


My Arranged Marriage To Taeyong

by BiancaRowena



Category: K-pop, KIdols, Kpop - Fandom, NCT (Band), taeyong - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Arranged Marriage, Dystopian, Friendship, Friendship/Love, K-Fic Automix 2018, K-Pop - Freeform, K-pop References, Male-Female Friendship, Near Future, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Shy Lee Taeyong, Sweet Lee Taeyong, Virginity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2020-11-08 15:00:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 37
Words: 51,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20837435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiancaRowena/pseuds/BiancaRowena
Summary: In a world where a young woman only has two choices, marry by age 17 or go into the army, AnAn finds herself without a match and added to the Arranged Marriage Pool, as required by law. But what kind of guy will she end up with? AnAn is skeptical when Building Families presents her with a photo of her Match. He is quite possibly the most attractive guy she's ever seen in her life. But is there more to this Match than a simple Arranged Marriage?Kpop Idol, Taeyong, needs out of his 7 year contract with the SM Entertainment and the Arrange Marriage Pool is the safest way to do it. Going to America isn't a bad deal, but he'll miss his friends and he'll have to keep a low profile, so he can escape the death threats that threaten not only him but his band members back home.(To all those who follow my work because I do Star Wars Fan Fiction. I plan to do a sequel to the last movie, after it comes out at the end of November this year. So check back for that. For now I'm doing K-Pop fan fiction :) Thanks)If you've read this already on Wattpad, I've decided to post it here too and continue the story in both places as well as Fanfiction.net under my name there, Flowerchickie (soon)





	1. Chapter One

AnAn scrolled through the website on her phone, frustrated now. Why was it so hard to find a simple ringtone from her favourite Korean Drama? They all came up as the opening song to the show, but she wanted Jo Ji-ah's ringtone, a happy children's tune sung in Korean. She couldn't leave her ringtone as it was currently. Every time she heard it she had a mini panic attack thinking she was getting 'the call.'

The lingering light outside faded to black, leaving her bedroom in the dim light of all the twinkling lights on her ceiling. The darkness came early now and she'd put up the fairy lights in hopes it would help cheer her up. It was only a few days after Halloween and the sun was already going down by supper time. AnAn found the ringtone finally and downloaded it. The upbeat singing made her smile, but her heart felt heavy. She'd gotten used to her current lifestyle, working at News Now Network (NNN), writing daily articles in the entertainment section, a part time job that was as fun as it was easy. Living in the small apartment near the college, with her roommate Jerry, who unfortunately hadn't fallen in love with her as planned and now she had been thrown into the Arranged Marriage pool.

AnAn lay back on her soft carpet and looked up at the ceiling. Her eyes teared up when she saw all the lights strung around the room. She'd printed out images of all her favourite K-drama actors and hung them up with tiny clothes pins. Smiling couples who'd found love in a TV drama world she loved so much. She'd been using her income on buying things for her room, like her rose patterned wallpaper, and her subscription to various K-drama streaming sites. But soon she'd be married and have to give her income to her new husband, someone she didn't even know yet.

Building Families usually teamed local matches with other locals, but AnAn couldn't think of anyone they could possibly pick for her. Jerry was engaged, as was every half decent guy in town and the others were opting to go to war. What if her new husband didn't allow her to work? He had the power to do that, so she would focus on 'building a family,' something that was greatly lacking in the world now.

AnAn pushed down the panic that threatened to rise up and turned her attention back to her phone. She opened up her messages to get her mind off the inevitable, but then she remembered that she was avoiding her messages too. There were too many to reply to, even from acquaintances she never talked to. Did you hear back from Building Families? I can't believe you're being Arranged! Do you know who the guy is yet?

AnAn scrolled through them, seeing the first part of the sentences from each message but not clicking on any. Once she got her Match, she'd write a polite and brief description of the guy and the ceremony date, then copy paste it to all who had messaged her. Anyone who wanted to come mourn with her at the wedding was welcomed attend. She'd been to a lot of weddings this year as all her friends and acquaintances turned marriageable age. And she'd cried at every one, except for Rose and Terrance's wedding. Rose was too amazing to have anything but the best guy in town. AnAn was glad to know at least one couple, that was actually happy in their marriage.

She opened her YouTube and searched 'I Am Not a Robot, kissing scene.' Kim Min-Kyu and Jo Ji-ah were her favourite couple. She played the video and when Kim Min-Kyu smiled AnAn's shoulders relaxed and she smiled too. Suddenly her cell phone erupted with the bright and cheery music of the Korean children's song 'Please Don't Be Sad.' AnAn dropped the phone on her face and swore, then got up from the floor. The phone had landed face down on the carpet so she let it ring for a moment, listening to the song and giving herself ten second to enjoy it before answering the call.

"Mom!" she sighed. Well at least it wasn't Building Families calling her. "I told you I'd call when I found out. They haven't called me yet."

"Okay, well tell them you're not moving!"

AnAn groaned in response. Of course she wasn't moving.

"What if he's from one of those war countries?" her mom continued. "You're not moving there. You have a right to refuse a move."

"He does too," AnAn replied, then quickly regretted it. Her mom had been so worried ever since Jerry had gotten engaged all of a sudden and AnAn was left with no one to marry. She'd guessed about six months ago that he wasn't going to be the one, but she'd ignored the signs and allowed everyone to think that they'd end up together. But they were always more like brother and sister than a couple. Now she was on the Arranged Marriage list and everything was happening way too fast.

There was silence on the other end of the line and AnAn felt like crying. "Don't worry, Mom, I'm going to stay here. And he has to be able to speak English, remember? I don't think they're going to Arrange me with someone from one of the war countries. They always Arrange local."

AnAn shuddered at the thought of marrying someone from her high school. "Oh my gosh, maybe I should just join the army."

"No!" her mother yelled. AnAn pulled the phone away and listened to the rest of her mom's rant at a safe distance from her ear. "They're going to war this winter. You can't join now. You'll never survive there. You can't even kill a spider. How are you going to use a gun?"

Her mom's next words were cut off by two muted beeps, signaling another incoming call. The number was a long line of digits that was either a telemarketer, or a government number.

"Mom, I'm getting another call."

"Is it them?"

"I don't know."

"Okay, you'd better answer. Let me know."

AnAn switched the call and put her phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Miss AnAn Miller?"

"Yes."

"Hello AnAn. This is Building Families. We have good news. You've been successfully Arranged."


	2. Chapter Two

AnAn pulled the collar of her winter coat tighter around her neck. Large snowflakes danced about the downtown area, obscuring her view as she looked down the street to make sure no cars were coming. She ran across to the festive-looking Starbucks on the corner. Now that Halloween was officially over, the coffee shop had transformed into a Christmassy haven in the current snowstorm weather.

The sight of Christmas ornaments and the decorated windows would have normally made her dreamy, imagining some kind of romantic encounter with the man of her dreams inside the frosted windows of the cozy cafe. But that fairytale was no longer one AnAn could have anymore. There would be no chance meetings of nice young men, or someone to come rescue her from marrying Mr. X, the name she'd given her future husband. Her fate was sealed and she was running to her favourite cafe now to wallow in her despair with her best friend, Rose.

AnAn burst through the heavy front doors, causing heads to turn. Rose got up from her seat, a look of worry on her face. AnAn hurried over to her table, trying to hide in her jacket. She must look awful, judging by the concerned expression Rose was giving her. The bit of eyeshadow and mascara she'd put on this morning to look presentable in public made no difference in hiding the stress of the last couple of days.

AnAn plopped down in the seat across from Rose and inhaled a big breath of coffee-filled air. She smiled at her friend, despite the heaviness in her heart. Rose was wearing a cute floral blouse with a dainty bow tied at the front. Her long black hair was straight and perfect as always and her green eyes shone bright even when she was worried. She didn't need makeup to be beautiful and she never wore it, which made her look younger than seventeen. Sometimes she still looked like the timid thirteen-year-old AnAn made friends with in middle school, when Rose had just moved here from the Philippines. Now she was married to Terrance and working at the library downtown. Her life seemed quite perfect but AnAn knew she struggled with her own things, just like everyone else. Marriage had been harder than she'd expected and the last four months had been a big adjustment for her.

"Are you okay?" Rose said, leaning over and giving AnAn a hug over-top her large winter coat. Her perfume was a source of comfort, a floral scent AnAn associated with her best friend. She hugged her back, then they both settled into their seats.

"I can't move away," AnAn started. "I just can't."

"I'm sure you won't have to-"

"I just wish I got to chose the guy I'm going to marry, you know? It's not fair."

Rose opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. Suddenly AnAn realized that she had been given a chance to choose a guy. She'd had years to find one. Girls in middle school were already planning their future weddings and securing their Matches. But AnAn hadn't cared about that stuff and chose to focus on her writing and enjoying romance through the stories in all the K-dramas she watched. But now she was unprepared and she hadn't found anyone, and she'd missed her chance. It was easy to blame Jerry, who'd made an agreement with her that they'd marry each other if neither of them found someone else by seventeen. But she always knew there had been a chance he'd find someone. And he did.

AnAn glanced around the cafe. The morning rush was over and the lunch rush hadn't started yet. The next time her and Rose met for coffee here she'd be married. The thought made her so nervous that her hands began to shake.

"Why don't I get you a drink," Rose offered.

AnAn nodded and Rose got up. "What would you like?"

"A Venti Caramel Macchiado with extra whipped cream and extra caramel drizzle."

"You can't drink yourself into a heart attack before your Building Families meeting today," Rose said. "It won't be that bad. They use a lot of complicated algorithms to come up with an Arrangement that suits you specifically."

"That's what I'm afraid of. I don't want a guy who's lived in a small town all his life and is just like me. I'm super boring."

"No, you're not. I'll get you a low-fat Grande Caramel Macchiado."

AnAn narrowed her eyes at her friend.

"With extra caramel drizzle," Rose added and AnAn smiled.

When Rose returned with the drinks they talked about Christmas coming up and taking time off work to go on a trip this year. It had officially become their new tradition since they'd gotten their driver's licences. They would drive somewhere on Boxing day and stay the night to have their own little celebration, away from family. Rose's family was very big, with many cousins and aunts and uncles, and AnAn's family was very small, just her and her mom. Rose was glad to get away from all the craziness of their big Christmas celebrations and AnAn was glad to get away from the depressing reality of having hardly any family at all.

But everything was different now. Rose had to check with Terrance if he'd be in town to watch their puppy so she could go. And AnAn had no idea what her husband would expect from her or if she'd have to ask him about it.

"Listen," she said to Rose now, grabbing her hand. "I don't care who I marry. I promise he will never be more important to me than our friendship."

Rose smiled but didn't return the promise. AnAn wondered if she already loved Terrance more than any friend, more than her, but she didn't ask Rose to make the same promise, she knew they'd always be best friends and that was good enough for her.


	3. Chapter Three

AnAn emptied her pockets into the plastic tray on the rollers at the entrance of the government building. She removed her shoes and added them to the bin too. The last time she'd been inside this building her mom was arguing with her dad about divorce papers and she'd cried. She was just little then. That was before divorce became illegal and Building Families became a government organization.

Now her mom was an oddity in the town, where every female of child-bearing age was married, whether they liked it or not, or in the army to help the war effort. Those who divorced before the laws came into effect weren't required to remarry. So AnAn grew up without a father, and without any desire to get married herself.

The sound of the plastic trays bumping along into the x-ray machine echoed throughout the large building. This was where she would have her Marriage Ceremony too. The thought sent chills through her. She felt like she was at the doctor's office, heading in to find out about a fatal disease, one that would affect her for the rest of her life.

AnAn walked through the metal detector then collected her belongings. There had to be a way out of this, some loophole in the system that would give her a way out of the arranged marriage. Despite all her reservations she couldn't help but be curious who she'd been Arranged with. She hurried to the information desk and got instructions on which way to go.

The Building Families offices had bright, colourful walls, like a preschool for children. But the atmosphere felt sterile and the lady at the front desk looked uninviting.

"Go on back," she said to AnAn, not even looking up from her computer. "They're expecting you."

Her Building Families Official was young, no more than twenty-two, and she didn't bother to be comforting or reassuring. She got right down to business, setting papers before AnAn and getting her to sign them. She wore a crisp, stewardess-like suit and hat, both with the Building Families logo on them. One of the folders had a photo insert and AnAn reached for it, her heart pounding. Originally, the Arranged Marriage program didn't allow matches to see each others' photos before the first meeting, but that eventually changed. Now AnAn could see the wisdom in waiting until the first meeting. A photo could set up so many false ideas of what the person would be like, just by their appearance.

She saw blonde hair in the photo peeking out from the side of the folder, but hesitated to pull it out. Maybe she should read his information first, current job, behavioural temperament, personality assessment, psychological evaluation. But she couldn't help her curiosity. Everyone said that looks didn't matter in Arrangements, but AnAn felt she could tell a lot about a person by how they looked. She took out the passport-size photo and her breath caught.

Had there been a mistake?  
Was this her Arrangement file or someone else's?

The boy staring back at her in the photo was perfect, too perfect. He looked like a K-Drama star, but not one that she knew. Her mind raced through the many K-Drama's she'd watched. No, he wasn't in any of them, but the photo was professional quality and the Korean guy in the photo even had his makeup done and everything. There was no way this was her Match.

"Anne?" the Building Families Official said. "Are you listening?"

"Yes," AnAn said. Except she wasn't listening. All she could do was stare at the picture of her Match. Could this be the wrong photo? Before she could ask, the Official continued.

"As I was saying. Taeyong has left the honeymoon details entirely up to you. I see you have no Building Families fund."

AnAn's cheeks grew warm. She'd avoided saving up money for her upcoming wedding or honeymoon, in a subconscious, or perhaps conscious, way of refusing to accept the inevitable. Why save if she wasn't going to go through with it? Her and Jerry didn't want to waste their money on a honeymoon. But now she was here, unprepared. Her arrangement with Jerry, get married and be like roommates, don't sleep with each other on the wedding night, was no longer an option.

AnAn suddenly hated Jerry for abandoning her like this. She'd been nice about him changing his mind at the last minute but now she was furious. She glanced down at the photo of Taeyong again. If this really was what he looked like how would she even make eye contact with him, let alone go on a honeymoon! And wouldn't he be devastated with his match results? AnAn was just an average, small-town girl. If he looked like this then certainly he deserved a beautiful actress.

AnAn set the photo down. There had to be a mix-up. This was definitely an image pulled off of a K-Drama fan site. This guy must have submitted a false photo in hopes of getting a really attractive Match. There were movies and novels written about Match mix-ups and people falsely representing themselves. Was Korea even in the Match-pool? Their population hadn't been nearly as devastated by WWIII as the Americas had, where entire states and provinces had been eliminated.

"We've got a Thursday afternoon and a Monday morning," the Official said. AnAn had tuned out again. Were they talking about the wedding or the first meeting?

"Uh..." AnAn looked up from the photo of Taeyong. "Next Thursday?"

"Great. I'll schedule the Ceremony now before the slot gets taken."

"Wait, what about the first meeting?"

The Official kept her glance down, jotting things in a daytimer. "Unfortunately your match won't be arriving in time for a first meeting."  
"But I'm allowed a first meeting."  
"Yes," the Official looked up with a patronizing smile. "But it's just a courtesy and doesn't always fit into the schedule."  
"What if I don't like him?"

The Official frowned and grabbed a handbook from her bag, tossing it onto the table. "I'm assuming you haven't read the rules handbook," she said.

AnAn looked down at the book but didn't pick it up. No, she hadn't read it, except for excerpts Jerry had read out loud to her so they could make fun of it. She hadn't been planning her wedding since middle school like all the other girls. And she'd left everything to the Province, including the wedding details, because her and Jerry didn't care about any of it. Her Ceremony would be at the Government building, the bridesmaid and groomsman, both witnesses, would be appointed if she didn't pick them, and there were coupons for the local fancy restaurant to have dinner at afterwards.

Suddenly AnAn wanted more time. She wanted to ask a few friends to be bridesmaids and Rose to be her Maid of Honour. She wanted to pick out a colour theme for their dresses and leaf through wedding magazines for the perfect wedding dress. All this time she'd been rejecting the idea of ever getting married because of what her mother had gone through, but now she wanted to make this entire thing her own. But it was too late.

She looked at the Official again. She was pretty, despite her authoritative demeanor and harsh ponytail. "Who's your Match?" AnAn asked her.

She looked confused for a moment then cleared her throat. "Building Families Employees have the option to forgo a Match-"

"What?" AnAn said a little too loudly.

The Official drew back, blinking in surprise but composing herself quickly. "We travel across the entire country, many times a year. It is not feasible."

"So there is a way to be exempt from being Arranged?"

"Not exactly. Applying for Building Families is very... complicated."

"Can I apply now? Before the Ceremony?"

"I'm sorry Anne-"

"It's AnAn! Anne-Anne!"

The Official began gathering the papers on the desk, her expression closed off now. "We'll assign the wedding date for next Thursday and send you an information package in the mail by the end of the week."

"Wait! What about habitation? Does Tay..." She'd forgotten his name already and the Official had taken his file away. "Has my Match requested me to move?"

"No, he's requested to move here."

"To the city?"

The Official got up, having gathered all her things.  
"No, to here, in Lowbridge, with you."

AnAn was confused. Why would anyone choose to live in Lowbridge? Rose and AnAn's mom were both resigned to the idea that her Match would at least request her to move to the city, which was a two-hour drive from Lowbridge, but it was within visiting distance at least. Had her Match not done any research on this town? Or checked the population and employment rates? Where would he even work? The few establishments still in business were all family-run, except the movie theater and the Starbucks. She'd actually been looking forward to working for NNN at their city location, and maybe even get her own office.

AnAn thanked the Official, who avoided eye-contact and now seemed upset. Then she left the room in a daze. She hadn't been given her Match's file. When she turned back she saw that the small room was now empty.

In less than a week she would be married, to a man who was either the most attractive guy in the world, or a con-artist who'd sent in a fake photo and was looking for an escape or running from the law, and using the Building Families program to do it.


	4. Chapter Four

"What colour was his hair?" Rose asked, pulling AnAn's attention away from her computer. It was already late at night but Rose had come over to help AnAn figure out this mystery of her Match possibly being a con-artist.

AnAn scrolled through the images on the screen. She had searched 'K-Pop Idol' on Google and so far none of the results looked quite like her Match. She closed her eyes and tried to remember exactly what his photo looked like. But now, after looking at so many Idols on line, she was beginning to forget.

"He was blond," she said to Rose, answering her question. Rose repeated the information to her thirteen-year-old cousin from the city, who was on the phone and who was a K-pop fangirl.

"Was he tall?" she asked.

"I don't know," AnAn shoved her mouse away and leaned back in her chair.

"What was his name?"

"Tay... Tay-something."

AnAn bit her lip, realizing for the first time that her soon-to-be husband was Korean. She glanced up at the pictures hanging from her lights all around her room. She didn't dare get too excited about her Match being a real K-Drama star. Something like that only happened in movies and she knew enough of the bad side of Arranged Marriages to know she shouldn't keep her hopes high. Nevertheless, she couldn't stop the excitement that blossomed inside of her. What if he was actually Korean? He wouldn't have lied about that detail, right? Would he teach her the Korean language? She already knew some words from the dramas she'd watched.

"Here." Rose shoved her cell phone in AnAn's face. "Look at these. This is Taehyung from BTS, Taeyang from Big Bang and Taeyong from NTC."

"NCT!" Rose's cousin yelled through the phone speaker.

"That's him!" AnAn snatched the phone from Rose. "Oh wow. Yes, that's definitely him. I mean, it looks exactly like the photo in the Match file." She zoomed in on the photo. The K-Idol seemed to be in some dystopian, war torn location. He was wearing red leather pants, a jean jacket vest, and wrist bands. His hair was dark underneath and bleach blond on top, hanging into his eyes. His gaze was so intimidating AnAn couldn't look at the photo for more than a few seconds at a time. It was as though he was staring right at her, and it made her very nervous.

"He's so..." Rose looked at AnAn with wide eyes. AnAn held her breath waiting for Rose's response. "He's so.... COOL!" Rose snatched the phone back and studied the image closer. "Is this really what he looks like?"

"Yes..." AnAn hesitated. It did look like him. "Well his hair was different."

"Let's do a search." Rose shoved AnAn's chair aside and typed in 'Taeyong NCT' in the search bar. A bunch of images came up and AnAn gasped.

"That one!" She pointed to one of the pictures. "That's the EXACT photo."

"It looks like it?"

"No. That is the photo, his Building Families File photo. Oh my gosh do you think he's lying about who he is?" AnAn pulled her sweater closer around her. "This guy can't be coming to Lowbridge. It's just not... possible."

Rose sat down on AnAn's bed. "You're right. So what are you going to do? Ask for an investigation?"

AnAn clicked on a Wikipedia article on Taeyong. He was 23 years old, born in Seoul. Wasn't 23 over the Arranged Marriage age? "I don't know." AnAn sighed. She didn't want to stir up trouble. Only America and a few other countries had the Building Families project, after the mass wipe-out of almost 90% of the population during WWIII. Most of the Asian countries still had sustainable levels of population but the West was dying out. Where America was once keeping immigration out, it was now pleading for people to come in and populated the country. New citizens were given a lot of perks, like nice big houses. There were a lot of empty homes and buildings now, unused. Was that why AnAn's Match had signed up for the Arranged Marriage program? To get all the things promised to those who come to help repopulate Canada?

"Maybe we should just wait and see?" AnAn finally said. "I could talk to him first. He could be running from the law, like there could be a good reason he had to make up a fake identity and send in an Idol's photo, like maybe he needs to escape from his country or he'll be killed or something."

Rose suddenly looked even more concerned.

"It'll be fine," AnAn reassured her. "He wouldn't have gone to all this trouble just to come to this country and harm me. He's going to want to be a model citizen, to stay here."

"But what if he does have an agenda and what if he won't..." Rose averted her eyes but AnAn knew what she meant. What if he won't treat their Arrangement as a real marriage and she'll end up in one of those Arranged Marriage situations where they just lived as roommates?

She suddenly remembered what she'd been thinking at the Government Building earlier today. Isn't that exactly what she'd hoped for, as the best case scenario? Isn't that what she was planning to have with Jerry anyway? She looked at Taeyong's picture again. If he actually looked like that then she wouldn't want to be just 'roommates.'

"I'm sorry, AnAn," Rose said. "But I really have to go. It's almost midnight."

"Okay, ya. I'll figure something out." AnAn got up to see her friend out.

"Is Jerry coming home tonight?"

"He never comes home anymore. I don't know why he bothers to pay rent," AnAn chuckled, yet part of her felt a bit jealous. Jerry had fallen head over heels in love a few months ago and it had taken him like an unexpected storm. In a way AnAn felt left behind. Not everyone fell in love before their seventeenth birthday but Rose had, and now Jerry too, right on time. But AnAn had found nothing. And now even her Arrangement Marriage wasn't a typical one. Nothing in her life was ever typical.

After Rose left, AnAn returned to her computer and continued to look through the photos of Taeyong. Pink hair, white hair, purple hair, red hair. This guy was gorgeous in any coloured hair. But he looked so serious and too cool. What if he didn't know how to have fun?

And he was super famous. There was no doubt in her mind now that her actual Match had to be lying about his identity, at least lying about his photo. Nevertheless, AnAn continued searching the Taeyong boy online. She went onto Youtube and put his name into the search bar along with 'NCT.'

The first thing that came up was 'A Guide to NCT's Taeyong.' AnAn laughed. She almost wished it was actually this guy that she'd be marrying. She would know everything about him by tomorrow, just from searching online. Except thousands of others knew about him too. But no one in Lowbridge did. Everyone here was still in the dark ages. AnAn didn't even know one other person that had even heard of K-Dramas. She scrolled further and clicked on a music video called 'Baby Don't Stop, Dance Practice.'

"Oh... my... " she breathed. Taeyong was a good dancer. A really good dancer. He wore a simple black and white striped T-shirt and a white cap, yet somehow he made it look sexy.

She swallowed hard, a heat rushing through her. The song too was so suggestive... "Stop, Baby don't stop..." he sang it in a whispered voice. She quickly closed the window. Her hormones were on overdrive, sent into a tailspin from just 40 seconds of watching Taeyong dance.

AnAn jumped into her bed and pulled the covers over her head. This was ridiculous. Did Building Families follow her internet history and trap her with this fantasy of having such a cool Korean Idol turn out to be her Match? Maybe they'd done it to ensure she wouldn't challenge the Arrangement before the Ceremony date. But why would they do that? What was going on? And who would be standing at the makeshift altar in the Government Building on her Ceremony Day next Thursday?


	5. Chapter Five

AnAn threw the Building Families pamphlet across the lunch room table. She'd been reading the 'Tips for a Perfect Wedding Day' section: Your Wedding Day is a day you can prepare for years in advance. Many girls plan to grow out their hair and begin exercising programs well in advance of their Ceremony date.

Everything about the pamphlet made her mad, but she wasn't sure exactly why.

"Are you okay?" Joslyn asked, stepping into the lunchroom. Had she seen AnAn's little fit? AnAn turned to her. Was it lunch already? She'd left her cubicle early for lunch, having found it impossible to focus on her work.

The last thing she needed was Joslyn meddling in her life. Ever since she'd found out that AnAn had been put into the Arranged Marriage pool, she'd taken it upon herself to stick her nose in AnAn's business. 

AnAn stood up so fast that her chair fell backwards and Joslyn jumped in surprise. She stormed out of the room, grabbing a cookie from the platter on the counter on her way out. She shoved the cookie in her mouth and grabbed a pair of scissors from the front desk before heading into the ladies washroom.

Exercise and long hair? Was that what made for a happy marriage these days? AnAn dug the scissors into her thick hair and began to cut. The blades were a bit dull and pulled at her scalp, making her eyes sting with tears. She'd tried everything to find a Match before the cut-off date, before the humiliation of having to be assigned one. She'd kept her hair long, even gotten fake nails at one point, and attempted to learn how to be more feminine and flirty. But why did she even have to? Sure, the world desperately needed to repopulate, but since when was human re-population ever a problem in this world? They weren't exactly an endangered species, unless they killed each other in war. But Arranged Marriages weren't going to fix that.

The hair behind AnAn's neck was the hardest to cut and she grunted with the effort. Mounds of the dark red strands drifted to the bathroom floor. It had once been strawberry blonde, in the photos of her with her dad. But the colour had darkened with time, as though growing darker with her personality as she got older. She didn't believe in love, despite her love of K-Dramas. In real life she believed in freedom and choice and integrity, none of which she felt were options for her now that she was the age to be married.

With a final cry, AnAn cut the last bit of her hair at the base of her neck and threw the scissors into the sink. She looked at her reflection in the mirror in front of her. Tears streaked down her face. Her hair stuck up in every direction, as though celebrating its freedom from the confines of being dragged down with its weight. Now it seemed to have no direction, no structure, just like AnAn. She didn't want to be confined to Building Families' rules and laws. She smiled, enjoying the wild look of her hair. She'd always wanted short hair anyway. Then she broke down in sobs. What was she going to do? She didn't want to get married.

"AnAn!" Joslyn came hurrying in to the washroom. "What did you do?" She gasped, her eyes travelled down to the floor, where her black heels were stepping on AnAn's severed hair. She looked at AnAn in the mirror. "Do you need me to call someone?"

"No!" Was she serious? "Are you crazy? I'm not insane, Joslyn, I just don't want to get married. I think it's stupid." AnAn's began to cry again and Joslyn comforted her. She seemed genuine in her concern, so AnAn told her how she was worried that her Match was some con-artist and how she didn't want to go to war and make her mother worry.

"His picture was of a Korean celebrity," AnAn said between hiccups.

"Was he older than the Arranged age for guys?" Joslyn asked.

AnAn nodded, calming down now that she'd cried and told her story to someone other than Rose.

"Then he's an Interloper."

"A what?"

Joslyn hoisted herself up on the sink counter and looked down at AnAn. "Building Families make deals with professionals oversees, you know, doctors, engineers, surgeons; professionals we need here but don't have enough of. They're promised a young wife, a big house, a nice car and lots of other things, if they come work here."

"Do you think my Match is one of these... Interlopers?"

"Sounds like it to me. They're usually older, like in their 40's, and Building Families puts in a false photo so the girl being matched doesn't file a Challenge to the Ceremony in time. Then when she gets there and the guy ends up being like 50 and Building Families denies ever having shown a photo of a celebrity. Then it's too late to file a Challenge, since it takes at least two days to process one."

"But how can you challenge an Arrangement anyway?"

"Easy. Get a doctor's assessment that says you're infertile and also have a health condition that prevents you from joining the army."

"How do you know about all this?"

"My cousin got an Interloper. Good thing we caught it in time. That's how I found out about the Sympathy Doctors. There's one in the far north who will make fake documents, if you pay him."

"Wow. I've never heard of anyone getting married to an older guy like that."

"They're not that common actually. The Sympathy doctors make the documents for girls who... prefer girls."

"Oh."

Joslyn gave AnAn a knowing smile.

"I'm not-" AnAn began to say.

"I know you never talk about liking guys and that the Firemen calendar we got you for your sweet sixteen when you were interning here never made it up on your wall."

"What? No, I'm not-"

"It's okay, AnAn. Two of my married friends don't like guys either and they're doing just fine. But if you're dealing with an Interloper and you're this upset about getting married, then maybe it's best if we talked to the Sympathy Doctor and stopped this marriage."

"Wait. What happens to someone who isn't fit for an Arranged Marriage or the army?"

"They become Building Families Officials."

AnAn suddenly remembered the young Official who did her debriefing and how she'd seemed upset when AnAn asked her about her Match.

"I guess that isn't so bad of a deal," she said now.

Joslyn jumped down from the counter. "I'll make some calls and see what I can do." She gave AnAn a side hug. "Don't worry, we'll stop your marriage to this guy. And you'll never have to worry about being forced into a marriage again."


	6. Chapter Six

AnAn clutched the manila folder to her chest. It had arrived that morning, along with Taeyong's information papers, which had been conveniently delayed in the mail until today, the morning of her Ceremony. There was no photo included in the package, just as Joslyn had anticipated.

The sky was clear for the first time in weeks and the snow had melted overnight, leaving the pavement wet as though it had just rained. The air smelled fresh too. Lowbridge didn't get much moisture or rain but today the air was heavy. AnAn felt like she was on the steps of a parliament building in another city and not in the small town she'd grown up in. Today her life would change. The moment she presented the files in her manila folder to the Justice of Peace she'd be free. She wouldn't have to get married and she wouldn't have to go to war.

So then why did her chest feel heavy with loss, standing alone on the steps as the cool breeze blew through her unruly, short hair?

Maybe a sense of sadness always accompanied a big change in one's life. She would soon be travelling to different cities and provinces, as a Building Families Official. The thought both excited her and terrified her. She'd miss her mom and Rose. But she'd have a highly respected job with good pay. Yet it would be at the cost of never having a family. Since when did she even want a family? And yet now, faced with the reality of no longer having that choice, she wasn't so sure she was okay with giving up that option.

The breeze chilled AnAn's bare legs and she hurried up the stairs. She'd chosen to wear a light grey business style dress suit, which was her mother's from when she used to work at the bank. And she'd left her hair wild and unruly. There was no point in attempting to style it. She wasn't here to get married today anyway. But the suit at least made her look professional enough to be taken seriously when she presented the folder to the Justice of Peace.

AnAn stopped at the front doors, checking her phone before putting it on silent. There were no calls from Rose or her mom to wish her luck. They were both acting strange, ever since she'd told them about what she planned to do this morning. She had sworn them to secrecy and they were the only two who knew, other than Joslyn.

But AnAn knew they didn't want to get involved with her illegal activity and were keeping their distance. So she stood at the front steps of the Government Building alone, about to enter for her Marriage Ceremony, with no father to give her away, no mother to cry at the vows, no best friend as the Maid of Honour and no flowing white wedding dress. But she'd never wanted any of those things anyway. Had she?

AnAn finished her ascent up the steps and pushed the front doors open. She got in line for the security check and checked the time on her phone.

With all her deliberating on the front steps she'd made herself late for her own Wedding Ceremony. Once she got through security she rushed down the wide hallway, as fast as she could manage in her mother's heels. She was headed to Room 28C, where the Justice of Peace would be waiting for her.

When she stepped in, the first thing she noticed was the two bouquets of white flowers at the front. They filled the small room with a warm, floral scent and made AnAn sad that she was here to ruin this Ceremony, rather than celebrate it.

Two men stood at the back of the room with a young girl. One of the men was in a suit that had a Building Families pin on the lapel. He had to be the Justice of Peace. The other man was in his late 30's, also in a suit. He turned and smiled at her. He was Asian and had a pleasant smile. So Joslyn had been right. This man was not the guy in the photo AnAn had seen during her debriefing. And he was definitely not 23 years old.

AnAn hurried to the front, setting the manila folder down with a smack onto the small table with the marriage licence laid out, ready to be signed.

"I won't be able to get married today," she announced, unable to look at the man who was to be her husband.

"What's all this?" the Justice of Peace asked, his brow furrowing in displeasure.

AnAn shoved the folder into his hands. There was no going back now. The man beside her looked pleasant enough, but she had no interest in being tricked into marrying someone twice her age.

"I'm sorry, I'm late," someone called from behind them.

Everyone turned to see a young Korean man standing at the door. He was dressed in a black suit, which fit him perfectly, and his strawberry blond hair was cut in a stylish, celebrity worthy hair-style.

AnAn gasped. It was him, the guy in the picture. He was stunning in his suit, even more perfect in real life than in the photos she'd seen of him on the Internet. This was Taeyong, her Match.

AnAn couldn't speak. She hadn't been prepared to meet the talented dancer and rapper she'd watched on YouTube only a few nights ago. Taeyong hurried to the front, light on his feet and in obvious good shape. He had a confidence that made AnAn's heart race. He was so intimidating in real life. So different than the cowboys and farmers that lived in Lowbridge. So metropolitan and stylish! A boy from another world, one which she'd only seen in images and videos online. His gaze turned to her and he smiled, causing her heart to stop for a moment. He gave her a small bow, then did the same to the others.

"I'm the translator," the other man said to Taeyong. "And the best man for the Ceremony."

Taeyong shook his hand and AnAn could only stare, shaken by the sudden turn of events. 

"I know you speak English," the translator continued. "But we want to be sure you understand everything that is said today, clearly and without question, so you can enter into this marriage with your full consent and knowledge."

Taeyong nodded politely then looked around the room. His eyes stopped on the young girl beside the Justice of Peace, who AnAn only now realized must be the appointed Maid of Honour.

"Is my bride... here?" Taeyong asked, looking confused.

AnAn's stomach dropped. He didn't know she was his bride. Did he think she was an Official? She looked down at her dress suit. She wasn't wearing a wedding dress and her hair was a mess. She couldn't seem to get her voice to work and only stared at Taeyong, who now stood close enough that she could smell his expensive cologne. His presence seemed to take up the entire room and steal her breath away.

"Wait just a moment," the Justice of Peace said. He was looking at the papers AnAn had brought, with a concerned look on his face. "It says here you're unable to have children."

AnAn's eyes went wide. "No!" Her outburst seemed to startle Taeyong. She couldn't look at him. "I'm not..." AnAn started to say, but then she stopped. What could she say? That she forged Government Documents? She needed more time to think. Taeyong was who the documents had said he was. He wasn't some middle-aged Interloper or a con-artist. If she went ahead with her plan to stop this marriage from happening she'd never get another chance to have a Match. It suddenly seemed like a bad idea to make such a rash decision, when her Match was a more than suitable one, although alarmingly attractive.

"Miss AnAn," the Justice of Peace said. "Are you here to challenge this Arrangement today?"

AnAn wrung her fingers together, unable to decide, now that she knew Taeyong was not a con-artist. She glanced at him and saw his smile fade. He took a step back and his shoulders slumped. 

Oh no. She couldn't decide what to do. She hadn't expected the real Taeyong to actually be her Match. Should she still follow through with her original plan of becoming a Building Families Official? But if she stayed with Taeyong she could remain in Lowbridge, with Rose and Terrance. They could do couple's events together and have BBQ's. So many new possibilites would be opened up to her now. But he was way out of her league. And she'd just insulted him by bringing Challenge papers to their wedding ceremony!

AnAn was frozen, unsure of what to do.

"Please," Taeyong said softly. His plea was directed to her and she looked at him then. He seemed uncomfortable having to plead with her, and kept his gaze down. When she didn't answer he held his hand out and looked her in the eyes. 

AnAn managed to lift her hand and place it in his, desperate to erase the frown from his face, the one she'd put there. The warmth of his touch ran through her and she shuddered. She couldn't say no to him. Whatever the reason was that he needed this Arranged Marriage, she could tell it was important. And if the Arrangement didn't get processed today then he'd be put at the end of the waiting line for a new Match, which could take a year to reprocess.

The Justice of Peace sighed heavily and AnAn knew what she had to do.

"Please, Sir, let us get married," she said, so nervous that her voice shook. All she could think about was how Taeyong had pleaded with her not to break their marriage today.

The Justice of Peace leaned forward as though to share a secret. "Between you and me," he said to AnAn and Taeyong, "I could care less about fertility in a marriage." He straightened and squared his shoulders. "But if anyone were to find out about this, the marriage would be considered void. Do you understand?"

Taeyong and AnAn nodded. 

"It's evident to me that you two want to be together," he continued. "And I am humbled by your honesty this morning, AnAn, bringing this new information to light for the sake of Taeyong here."

The translator spoke in hushed tones, repeating the Justice of Peace's words in Korean to Taeyong, who nodded politely and avoided looking at AnAn. Her cheeks flared. Why did they all have to be discussing her fertility?

She felt Taeyong's grip on her hand tighten, as though he was squeezing her hand to reassure her.

The Justice of Peace asked him if he would consent to marrying AnAn, in light of this new information about her fertility, and Taeyong responded with a clear yes.

AnAn was so overwhelmed with everything that had just happened she felt tears rush to her eyes. This was surely just a dream.

The rest of the Ceremony was a blur. All AnAn could focus on was Taeyong's hand growing warm in hers. A flash went off, from a camera somewhere. Music played from some indiscernible source. There were vows and the signing of papers. But it wasn't until the end, until the Justice of Peace said, "You may now kiss the bride," that AnAn snapped back to reality.

Her eyes went wide as the words sank in. Taeyong gave her a questioning look and hesitated, before leaning forward. AnAn stiffened. She was going to faint. The most beautiful boy she'd ever seen was about to kiss her. Any moment she'd wake up and realize this had all been just a dream.

AnAn's eyes closed and she felt the warm brush of Taeyong's lips against her cheek. The tingle his lips left behind spread down her side and to her very center. She opened her eyes, her body suddenly alert and ready. But Taeyong had already turned away and was shaking hands with the translator.

"Congratulations!" The Justice of Peace offered his hand to AnAn and she shook it. "Now, if you'll excuse me I have three more marriages to officiate before lunch!"

Then they were gone and the room grew still. AnAn was at a loss for words. She'd just married Taeyong and she didn't have the slightest idea of what to do next.

He sat down with a heavy sigh in one of the lace covered chairs at the signing desk. Then he closed his eyes and AnAn realized he was probably exhausted, having only now just arrived on a twenty-hour flight from Korea. Just to marry her.

She looked down at the ring on her wedding finger. It wasn't the standard issue band they gave Arranged Brides. It was a beautiful diamond. Where had it come from? Had Taeyong picked it out for her? She would cherish it forever, a constant reminder that she was his bride.

She glanced back at Taeyong. His head was resting against the back of the chair, eyes still closed. He'd fallen asleep.

AnAn took the opportunity to admire his perfect features and his well-built body, in his tailored suit.

Joslyn had said AnAn didn't seem interested in the men in the Firefighters calendar, with the stubble on their faces and the ash on their sweaty bodies. She'd never had any interest in the cowboys and farmers and lumberjacks and construction workers. And for a while in middle school she'd even began to wonder if she liked men at all.

Then she'd discovered K-Dramas and the beautiful men who were like a fantasy to her, men that she never really believed existed in the real world. But now, looking at Taeyong asleep in the chair, AnAn knew she was most definitely attracted to men. One man. Her new husband.


	7. Chapter Seven

"Thanks again for helping me with this," AnAn whispered to Rose. They were seated on the floor in AnAn's bedroom, pamphlets, gift cards and information packages spread out in front of them.

Taeyong was asleep in Jerry's room down the hall. AnAn didn't know where to put him. He was obviously exhausted, although he insisted he was fine. It was the middle of the night in Korea now, whereas in Lowbridge the noon day sun shone in through the windows. AnAn's bed was unmade and there were clothes all over the room. She hadn't expected guests today, she'd expected to come home and eat a container of ice cream while watching K-Dramas until she fell asleep. She had a week off work and was glad she hadn't put in an official resignation yet. Now that she had gone back on her plan to be a Building Families Official, she wouldn't have to leave her job at NNN.

"I'm sorry, AnAn," Rose said, her eyes suddenly filling with tears.

"What? Why?" AnAn set down the map she'd been looking at, the directions to their new home and surrounding area.

"I was avoiding you-"

"No, it's fine. I shouldn't have listened to Joslyn. And I shouldn't have told you and put you in that position. I wouldn't want you to be connected with me doing something illegal."

"No, that's not it..." Rose got quiet and AnAn's pulse quickened. Something was wrong. She could tell. In fact, Rose had seemed different since she'd arrived, but AnAn had just thought it was because of her unexpected marriage to Taeyong.

"I'm pregnant," Rose said softly.

"What!" AnAn jumped up.

"Shhh..." Rose said, her teary eyes squinting in laughter. "You'll wake Taeyong."

AnAn sat back down beside her friend. "Are you happy? It's what you wanted, right?"

Rose nodded but seemed too overwhelmed for words.

"Don't worry," AnAn said, giving her a hug. "Terrance will be the best father ever, and you've got a big family to help you out."

"I haven't even told them yet." Rose dismissed the idea with a wave. "Let's not talk about me. Today is your wedding day!" She stopped suddenly and lowered her voice. "Weren't your real fertility results super high?"

"Oh no... No way," AnAn said, shaking her head. "Taeyong is hardly interested in me in that way. I really don't think my fertility matters. I mean, even if he did like me I'd probably die if he tried to make-"

Rose was tapping AnAn's knee incessantly and clearing her throat. AnAn turned to find Taeyong standing at the door, wearing a light grey fuzzy sweater that made him look so cuddly she wanted to jump up and squeeze him like a teddy bear.

"Hello." Rose smiled. She stood and offered her hand to Taeyong. 

He smiled back and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"This is my friend, Rose," AnAn jumped in between them. "She's married."

Rose gave AnAn a horrified look.

AnAn's cheeks flushed. Why had she said that? Why did she feel so territorial all of a sudden?

"I'm married too," Taeyong said, a smile playing on his lips.

AnAn blushed even more. He seemed different here, than he'd been at the Government Building, more relaxed. On the drive over he'd slouched down in his seat and didn't say a word. AnAn thought at first it was because he was tired, but then she noticed he was actually quite alert, looking around at intersections, then searching the area before getting out of the car when they'd arrived.

But now he looked at ease, in a pair of acid-washed jeans and a white dress shirt beneath his fuzzy sweater. The few hours of sleep he'd had probably helped. AnAn and Rose had gone through all the paperwork while Taeyong slept and Rose helped with the forms, having already been through all this four months ago with Terrance.

Rose cleared her throat, looking worried. "Why don't you two go to the restaurant alone, I don't need to come-"  
"No way." AnAn looped arms with her best friend. "You're coming too!" She felt bad for acting jealous of Rose and worrying that Taeyong would be attracted to her. Rose was too beautiful for this town and so was Taeyong. They looked striking beside each other, and AnAn felt like a plain Jane with them. But Rose loved Terrance and would never hurt AnAn. And she could tell Taeyong would never purposefully hurt anyone. 

"I'm going to invite my mom too," AnAn said. "We've got $500 to spend at Moon River Restaurant tonight and there's no way Tay and I are going to eat that all by ourselves." She glanced at Taeyong, suddenly worried that he would disapprove of her nickname for him, but he didn't seem upset. He ran his hands through his hair and AnAn had the most unexpected desire to wrap all her limbs around him like a body pillow.

"Okay," he said after a while.

"I'm going to do a little shopping this afternoon and I'll meet you guys at the restaurant," Rose said, looking between the two of them. "Unless you want me to stay?"

"No, I'll..." AnAn looked around her room, mortified that Taeyong had entered it before she'd cleaned it. "I'll walk you out." She escorted Rose to the front door.

"You really like him, don't you?" Rose whispered as she slipped her shoes on. "I've never seen you like this."  
"I've never seen me like this either," AnAn replied.  
"Just breathe." Rose gave her another hug then opened the door. "He seems super nice and I don't think I've ever seen a more attractive human being in my entire life. But don't tell Terrance I said that."

AnAn laughed then said goodbye to her friend.

When she got back upstairs, all the papers on the floor were tidied and so were her clothes.

"What the?" She turned to find Taeyong coming out of her bathroom with a bag of garbage and a full laundry bin. "Oh my gosh you don't have to clean-"

"It's okay," Taeyong gave her a wink, rendering AnAn speechless. "You can get ready. I will clean."

AnAn nodded, then hurried into the washroom to turn on the curling iron and do something with her unruly hair.


	8. Chapter Eight

The Moon River Restaurant was busy when they arrived. Building Families had reserved one of the back rooms for AnAn's Ceremony Dinner and the waitress led them through the restaurant to a much quieter area. Taeyong pulled his cap down to cover his eyes as they made their way to the back. It was mostly an older crowd there that night, but they still turned their heads when Taeyong walked by, which he didn't seem to like at all.

The room at the back looked festive with all the red and gold. A large Chinese paper dragon hung down from the ceiling in one corner and two golden vases held bouquets of exotic white flowers which made the room smell heavenly.

AnAn had never been in the back rooms of the Moon River Restaurant before. She felt underdressed for the occasion, in her jeans and pinstriped blouse. But Taeyong hadn't worn a suit or anything fancy so she hadn't wanted to dress up too much either. 

Now all she wanted to do was put her arms around him and know what his big fuzzy sweater felt like. But he hadn't kissed her on the lips after they'd said their vows. Although most of the Ceremony was a blur to her, AnAn clearly remembered the 'you may kiss the bride' part. It was obvious he was in this Arrangement for some other purpose she didn't know about, and she knew that when she made the decision to follow through with the Ceremony. It didn't matter to her that he had ulterior motives. She could help him out and he was helping her out too. She didn't have to go to war now and she also didn't have to worry about an overbearing husband.

Rose and Terrance took a seat on the other side of the large table, set with white linen and pretty tea cups. They looked more like the couple celebrating their wedding day, than AnAn and Taeyong did. Rose had her long black hair pinned up in a loose bun, which left dainty tendrils framing her delicate face. Terrance had worn a suit jacket, but no tie.

The waitress fussed over them, presenting them with the wedding menu.

"We're not the newly weds," Rose gently corrected her.

"Oh." The waitress turned to AnAn and Taeyong. She assessed them with a look, then put on a forced smile. "Congratulations. Would either of you like to start with a drink?"

"Just water for me," AnAn said out of habit. She didn't go out to eat much and when she did she never spent money on drinks.

"Me too," Taeyong said. The waitress rolled her eyes, then left.

Taeyong pulled the chair out which AnAn was about to sit in. She moved to another chair, to let him have that one, but he hurried over and pulled out that chair as well. Only then did AnAn realize he was pulling the chair out for her and not for himself. She felt unworthy of such special attention and blushed as she took a seat. She could feel Taeyong's closeness, even though he wasn't touching her, but the chair. His light, sweet scent, was like a gentle musk with a hint of cinnamon. When he let go of the chair she almost reached for him, not wanting him to go away. But he sat down beside her and she relaxed a bit.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Everyone turned to the entrance where AnAn's mom came barrelling in, both hands full of gift bags and a big wedding dress.

"Mom!" AnAn hurried over, but Taeyong was there before she was, taking her mom's bags from her hands.

"Thank you, young man," she said, smoothing out her dress. "I'll be sure to leave you a nice tip."

AnAn had never seen her mom in a dress before. It was red and fit in well with the Restaurant's decor.

"Mom, that's not the waiter... What are you doing?"

"It's your wedding day!" her mom announced, as though this was new information to everyone. "I had to bring presents."

"But the dress-"

"It was my wedding dress." She took AnAn's face in both her hands. "You deserve to be happy."

AnAn hugged her, feeling her eyes fill with tears. Why did her mom have to be sentimental all of a sudden? She was never sentimental like this.

"I didn't even know you had a wedding dress," AnAn said. She'd never seen any of her parents' wedding photos. Her mom had gotten rid of all of them.

"Of course I had a wedding dress! And you should too. Why don't you go change into it?"

AnAn sighed and stepped back. She glanced at the table and the others all nodded.

"Do it," Rose said, giving her a thumbs up.

"But my Ceremony is over."

"The Ceremony is never over," Terrance said and Rose rolled her eyes beside him, albeit with a smile on her face. AnAn glanced at Taeyong and he seemed to be lost in thought, looking elsewhere. There was no reason to wear the dress. This wasn't really a marriage for Taeyong.

When she turned back to her mother and saw the look of expectation on her face, she couldn't say no.

"Okay, maybe after we eat, for pictures."

"Excellent," her mother said. "That's what I was thinking too." She headed over to the table, completely ignoring Taeyong, who stood up when she came near.

"Mom, this is Taeyong, my... husband," AnAn said, stopping her mom, who looked up and frowned.

"Aren't we at war with your people right now?" she said.

AnAn was horrified. She pulled her mom aside.

"Mom, you can't say that," she hissed. "We're not at war with South Korea. You don't even know where he's from."

"He's your Match? You never told me-"

"Told you what? That he wasn't from Lowbridge? Does that even matter? I'm glad he's not."

"How will you love him?" she said in return, keeping her voice low.

AnAn couldn't understand her Mom's sudden crazy talk. "How could I not love him? He's so polite and considerate, and he even cleaned my apartment. For no reason!"

AnAn's mom blinked, then she seemed to hold back what she was going to say next. "Alright, alright," she said instead. "Let me say hello."

She walked over to Taeyong and assessed him with a look. "Nice to meet you... "

"Taeyong," he offered.

"Yes, well, let's have some food, I'm starving."

AnAn returned to her seat next to Taeyong and the conversation grew quiet. She couldn't see Taeyong's expression because his cap was pulled down further now, leaving only his chiselled jawline showing. But she could see that he was no longer smiling.

The waitress returned and took their order. Terrance joked with her, and his easy-going manner eased the tension in the room. Soon they were all talking and laughing and AnAn was grateful to her best friend's husband. He always knew how to command a crowd.

When the food arrived Taeyong removed his cap and seemed to relax a bit. He was the only one who used chopsticks and AnAn couldn't help but admire the ease with which he picked up the smallest bits of food. His wrist movements were so refined he looked like a prince. She wanted to ask him to teach her how to use chopsticks properly, but she was too nervous. He didn't talk much and AnAn could barely even hold her fork while sitting next to him. Her muscles became weak every time his glance turned her way, and she dropped her fork at one point. Her stomach too was fluttering, especially when Taeyongs wedding ring caught the light, reminding her that this was her husband.

AnAn gave up trying to eat and opted to just enjoy the conversation. Terrance didn't say anything about Rose's pregnancy and talked instead about their middle school antics, embarrassing AnAn with exaggerated accounts of her thirteen-year-old shinanigens. Taeyong laughed and said 'Really?' and 'No way' in his Korean accent, which only made AnAn even more weak-kneed. Fortunately she was sitting down.

Her mom ate in silence and AnAn began to worry she was feeling left out.

"Should we open gifts now?" AnAn said. Her mom's face brightened and she got up to retrieve the gifts. Taeyong got up too, as though to go help her, but AnAn grabbed his arm to stop him. The soft warmth of his sweater was so inviting she almost pulled him in for a hug, but she let go quickly, before she could embarrass herself, and he sat back down.

Maybe it would have been better for her not to know how soft his sweater felt. Now all she could think about was climbing into his lap and snuggling up to him.

"AnAn!" her mother said, startling her. "Quit staring at Tyler-Young and pay attention!" She handed over the first gift bag. Rose and Terrance both looked at her with a twinkle in their eye, as though they thought her drooling over Taeyong was cute. She set her attention back on her mom and reached for the bag. Taeyong quickly got up to help pass it to her across the table. When AnAn took it, their fingers brushed and she almost dropped the bag on her glass of water.

She looked inside, trying not to think about how Taeyong's fingers felt against hers, and pulled out a bright pink whisk.

"A whisk?" she said.

"I thought you could use some incentive to cook. Who wouldn't want to make something with a pretty pink whisk?"

"Thank you," Taeyong said, seeming genuinely happy about the pink whisk. Suddenly AnAn felt very selfish. Their wedding gifts were for both of them, not just for her. There were more items in the bag and the majority of the gifts her mom had brought were household items and things like matching bathroom accessories. AnAn was moved by the effort her mom had gone to in buying the gifts, all just this afternoon, no doubt. Taeyong seemed interested in the kitchen wares and she wondered if perhaps he liked to cook. Their new home had furniture, courtesy of Taeyong's Building Families account, but it likely didn't have kitchen things and bathroom stuff.

"I got you something too," Rose said, pulling out a small gift bag that AnAn hadn't even noticed her bring in. Taeyong got up and took it from across the large table for her, then gently set it down in front of her.

"Thank you," AnAn said, unable to make eye contact. She'd never met anyone who was so ready to help, as though she was someone special like a queen. It just seemed impossible that they were married now, for life. Surely something would happen to ruin this fairy tale. He'd change his mind and fly back to Korea by morning. Or she'd wake up from this dream and discover that none of it had actually happened. But for tonight, he was here beside her, sneaking glances in her direction from under his cap and making her stomach flutter.

"Just take out the top gift," Rose said, bringing AnAn's attention back to what she was doing. Being around Taeyong really made it hard to focus.

AnAn pulled out two leather bracelets, one light brown, the other black. They both had round metal pieces strung through them that looked like small coins with symbols on them.

"They're St. Benedict medals," Rose said. "It will protect you from evil."

AnAn studied the bracelets, then handed the black one to Taeyong. He thanked Rose and put the bracelet on. AnAn put hers on too. Now they had matching bracelets.

"Thanks Rose." AnAn looked down into the bag and saw pink lace. Intrigued, she reached in to pull it out.

"Oh! That's for you to open later!" Rose said, but it was too late. AnAn had already pulled out the lacey lingerie, in full view of everyone.

Taeyong turned away, his cheeks flushing. He lowered slightly in his seat and pulled his cap down further, but AnAn could see that he was smiling. She quickly shoved the fine lace back into the bag, her heart racing.

Terrance made a loud cat call whistle and leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying the discomfort of the two less experienced newly-weds sitting across from him.

AnAn's eyes widened when she suddenly realized that after this dinner it would officially be her wedding night. Before she could have a full blown panic attack, the upbeat song of "Please Don't Be Sad" rang through the air from her phone.

AnAn quickly grabbed for it, stumbling and dropping the phone on the table twice before she finally made the song stop.

Taeyong laughed out loud and said something in Korean. AnAn sank down in her seat and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Someone's been sleeping in my bed!" Jerry's voice rang from the other end.

"Calm down, Goldie Locks," AnAn said, a smile returning to her lips. "It was just my new husband." She loved shocking Jerry. He was so easily shockable.

"You're kidding me, right?" he said.

"No... hey, listen I'm actually at my Wedding Dinner so-"

"Dinner! Where? You didn't invite me?"

AnAn laughed. "Well, you weren't home and I didn't expect to be getting married today."

"I need all the details, but first I'll tell you what food to bring me home, for making use of my bed without permission."

AnAn rolled her eyes. "Fine. What do you want?"


	9. Chapter Nine

AnAn lifted her hand to knock on Jerry's bedroom door but then stopped when she heard the noises inside.

"Oh Jerry!"

The sudden exclamation of pleasure coming from the other end of the door made AnAn step back. She glanced at Taeyong, who had removed his shoes and was now beside her. He stifled a smile behind his hand. AnAn motioned for him to follower her into her room.

She quickly closed the door and cringed. She didn't want to think about what Jerry and his new fiance were doing in his room at the moment.

Taeyong glanced up at all the pictures strung around AnAn's room and she almost reached out and covered his eyes. How embarrassing. He must have thought she was some kind of stalker. Isn't that what stalkers did, hung up pictures of the person they were going to stalk and kill? Good thing she wasn't a K-pop music fan before she'd been Matched. She would have probably had pictures of Taeyong and all his band members hanging around her room instead of the Drama stars.

"Let's get out of here," AnAn said, picking up Taeyong's backpack. I had been set in front of her bedroom door with a sticky note on it that said 'papa bear's stuff.'

Another noise from Jerry's room got AnAn moving fast. She searched through the stack of papers on her desk for the small envelope that had the key to their new home.

"We were given a house from Building Families," she said. It was so strange to hear herself say that. She never really thought her marriage day would ever work out. But now all she felt was disbelief, like it could all evaporate at any moment.

"I haven't seen our house yet, but they sent us this key," she said. She hadn't planned to move in to the new house right away, but they couldn't stay here tonight. She had to get away from the sounds coming from the other room and Taeyong could no longer stay in Jerry's room, now that he was back.

Taeyong picked up her Unicorn stuffy off her bed and gave her a questioning look.

"Uh, that's not mine," she said, grabbing it from him and tossing it into the closet. "My little cousin was visiting."

She looked around the room for her backpack. Once she spotted it she grabbed it and handed it to Taeyong.

"Can you please put toilet paper into this backpack," she said. "In case our new place doesn't have any?"

"Toilet...?"

"Toilet paper," AnAn motioned her fingers in a circle, trying to explain.

"Ah, yes, yes!" Taeyong turned to leave. "I understand."

"Thank you," she said.

"No problem." He gave her a wink, then left.

AnAn shook off the tingles that his wink had caused to flow over her. She had to get her suitcase and pack her underwear before Taeyong came back. She pulled out the small suitcase from under the bed and hurried to her underwear drawer. Grabbing a handful of colourful panties, she chucked them into the suitcase.

Next she got socks, a pair of jeans, a hoodie, two shirts and a fancy blouse, in case some occasion came up and she didn't have time to come back to the apartment. What else would she need? Pajamas! Oh no! She had no cute pajamas or satin negligees, like the pretty girls on TV had.

Her fuzzy panda pajama bottoms would have to do, but she couldn't just wear baggy t-shirts to bed, like she usually did. She grabbed a couple of tank tops from the back of her drawer. Girls in teen movies always wore tank tops to bed, which weren't comfortable for sleeping but would look good at least.

AnAn ran around the room, throwing things in the general direction of her suitcase.

When Taeyong returned, he eyed her pile of clothes as though tempted to go arrange it. She was beginning to wonder if he was a neat freak.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said, quickly bundling the loose pile of clothes together and shoving them into the suitcase. She zipped it closed, not bothering to fold or organize the clothes. This was a world record for her packing time.

Taeyong held AnAn's toothbrush, toothpaste and hairbrush in his hand. He offered it to her.

"Thank you," she said, taking the items from him. He was so considerate. And smart. She would have forgotten to pack her toothbrush. She always forgot to pack it when she went on a trip.

The noises from the other room seemed to have stopped and AnAn quickly shoved her bathroom things into the backpack with the toilet paper rolls that Taeyong was holding.

"Let's go before..." she started to say, but then it was too late.

Jerry's bedroom door opened and AnAn looked out into the hall.

"Gahhh!" she yelled, turning away and covering her eyes with her hands. "Jerry, put some clothes on!"

"Huh?" she heard him say. "Geez, AnnieAn, couldn't you have told me you were here?"

"I couldn't bear to interrupt your... goings-on in your room when we arrived," AnAn mumbled from behind her hands covering her face.

"So this is Papa Bear, eh?"

"Just get dressed!"

AnAn heard Jerry's door close. She lowered her hands from her face.

"I'm sorry," she said to Taeyong, but he looked amused. She grabbed his arm, distracted for a moment by the warm fuzziness of his sweater. Then pulled him along, taking her suitcase and heading for the front entrance. She didn't want Jerry to come out and chat with them. She didn't want to meet his new girl. She'd been avoiding it and she wasn't sure why. She needed more time to adjust to all these changes. And she'd had enough drama for today to last a lifetime.

They put their shoes on in silence at the front door. Jerry hadn't come back out of his room yet and voices could be heard talking from inside.

AnAn made sure she had the key and her suitcase. Taeyong held her backpack and his own, ready to go. She glanced back one more time into the small apartment. Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. Her room didn't feel like it was hers anymore, but a childhood version of her. She was actually glad that they had a new house to move into. She wanted her new bedroom to be a new start. Her old self already seemed immature and stuck in her childhood. Her new room would have some of Taeyong's influence in it too. The thought made her stomach flutter.

AnAn shook her head to dispel the thought. One step at a time. She didn't even know if Taeyong wanted to share a bedroom with her.

He held the door for her as they went out. AnAn smiled. His gentlemanly behaviours would take some getting used to, but she loved it. He acted as though she was the celebrity and not him.


	10. Chapter Ten

AnAn's mother's wedding dress filled the entire back seat of the car, blocking AnAn's view of the back window through the rearview mirror. There was no traffic in Lowbridge as she drove through the lonely streets with Taeyong in the passenger seat.

"Ghost town," Taeyong said, looking out the window.

AnAn was beginning to learn that he didn't talk much when they drove, but focused on taking in the sights. Tonight the sky was a shade of pink, despite it being almost midnight, something that happened when there was a promise of snow for the next day. The empty streets were eerie, even to AnAn. She didn't like driving at night, but with Taeyong beside her it didn't seem so scary.

He rolled down the window and a gust of cold air blew in.

"Sorry! Cold." He quickly rolled it up again and AnAn laughed.

"It's okay, I'm used to it," she said, glad that they were talking more now. The weather in Lowbridge ranged from -40 Celcius to +40 Celcius throughout the year, and she was used to sudden extreme changes in weather. What kind of weather did they have in Seoul? Was it a temperate climate?

"Everything, very clean here," Taeyong said softly, still looking out the window. "The air is clean. And roads."

AnAn looked at the houses they passed by. They were in a new area of town, on the west side where the streets had names like Moonlight Blvd and Firelight Way and the areas were called 'communities.' Here the houses were lined up perfectly and the streets all uniform. She imagined what it must look like to Taeyong. He was probably used to crowded cities and smog.

"When I come here, on the airport," Taeyong said in his adorable accent. "There was the city and then..." he sat back in his seat, thinking a moment. "Then we drive, for a long time. Just empty. Just... empty space outside. No houses."

AnAn thought about this. The drive from the city to Lowbridge was over two hours and there was only a 'one-horse' town along the way, which you'd miss if you blinked.

"Scary," Taeyong said.

Something about his opening up to her warmed AnAn's heart. He did very well for speaking English and she wished she could do half as well speaking Korean. She didn't dare try the few words she knew.

"I went to Mexico once. When I was little," AnAn said. She'd been only six. It was the last summer her parents were still together. AnAn remembered it clearly. Her parents fought a lot at the hotel, but there was also the lavish resort pool, which was a paradise island to her little mind as a child. The drink bar at the center of the pool had stools right in the water. The sunset on the beach and the themed food nights were magical to her.

"My dad kept wanting to go into town and off the resort. My mom didn't feel safe. But we did take a taxi to an area that was still a bit touristy. There were so many people. Everyone was calling to us on the street to enter their store and shop. There were street vendors and so many things to buy. It was so crowded, with people and things. Everywhere." AnAn remembered how overwhelmed she'd been. She could hardly wait to get back to Canada.

"Then, we came home," she continued. "And there was nothing. It didn't matter how fast the car was driving, it was just nothing in every direction. And for me, being so little at the time, it felt like ten hours of driving and still there was nothing around. It made me scared, like there was too much space. There were no boundaries."

Taeyong was looking at her now. She glanced over at him, then quickly returned her eyes to the road. Would she ever get used to his eyes?

"In 300 meters, turn left," the GPS said.

They were getting closer to their new home and AnAn's excitement returned, heightened further now by their unexpected conversation. She wasn't sure she'd be able to fit any more emotion into her heart. It was already overflowing with everything Taeyong said and his every glance in her direction.

"In 500 meters, you will arrive at your destination," the GPS informed them.

The glint of the car's headlights reflected off two eyes in a field between houses, which looked like a park with a lake. AnAn slowed the car.

"Look Taeyong, look, a deer."

Taeyong turned to look then let out a surprised cry. He jumped away from the passenger side door, crashing into AnAn's shoulder. She steadied him with her hands on his back.

"AnAn!" Taeyong cried. "What is it?"

"It's okay... it's just a..."

Taeyong undid his seat belt and continued to back into her, climbing over the gear shift and setting his feet against the passenger window, stretching out his long legs as thought bracing himself for the deer's attack.

The deer looked at them and blinked once, then darted off into the night.

Taeyong relaxed, his breathing slowing a bit. He quickly got off AnAn and settled back in his seat, yet kept leaning away from the window. "Why..." he said, running his hands through his hair. "Did this animal run away, escape? From the zoo?"

"No, the deer just... live with us. We don't lock them up. They eat the grass and share the area. We just have to be careful not to hit them with the car."

Taeyong looked at her with such a baffled expression that AnAn laughed out loud.

He smiled too then, but still looked perplexed.

"You'll get used to them," AnAn said. "But don't feed them. They're still wild animals." She drove down the road until she reached house number 616.

The newly built home didn't look extravagantly big from the outside, but it was definitely larger than any home AnAn had ever lived in. The garage was at the front of the house but she didn't have a garage door opener, so she parked in the driveway and turned off the ignition. The day's activities finally took their toll on AnAn and she felt tired. She relaxed back into her seat and closed her eyes.

"Come on," Taeyong said, his voice lively. He reached into the back seat and grabbed her mother's wedding dress.

"We can leave that here for tonight. We'll just grab the backpacks and suitcase."

"Here." Taeyong pushed the dress into AnAn's hands. "Put the dress on."

AnAn gave him a questioning look. "Why?"

He got out of the car and walked around to her door, opening it for her and offering his hand. She stepped out cautiously and took his hand.

"This is our marriage home," Taeyong said, smiling. AnAn wasn't sure what he meant but she smiled back.


	11. Chapter Eleven

AnAn didn't complain about Taeyong's enthusiasm to get her into the dress. His hands were all over her, pulling her arms through the sleeves of her mother's wedding dress. He was quite animated when he was on a mission. She'd removed her jacket but was still wearing her blouse and jeans. The dress brushed the floor, but the ice and snow on the ground were clean.

Taeyong moved her around like a ragdoll, ignoring her protests. She giggled as he tucked her blouse in and attempted to tighten the laces at the back of the large wedding dress.

"Why am I wearing this?"

Taeyong swept her up in his arms and she squealed as the mass of the full skirt flew up in front of her face.

"It's your tradition," Taeyong said, carrying her up the front steps. He set her down and she realized the key was in her jeans pocket, under the many layers of the wedding dress. She tried to get under the skirt, which had a lot of material in the back which made up the train. Taeyong tried to help her lift the puffy folds and their attempts made them both laugh.

"AnAn," Taeyong said. "Please stop the moving." His hand grazed over her behind and her heart raced so fast she got light headed. She couldn't reach around to her back pocket over all the dress layers, but Taeyoung was behind her and had his hand under the skirt, sliding his fingers into her back pocket for the key.

"I got it!" he said, presenting the key. AnAn was too breathless for words so she simply nodded. Taeyong's face looked flushed as well and she couldn't tell if it was because of the cold or because of his attempts at getting to the key.

He unlocked the door and flung it open. Before she could walk into the house, he picked her up into his arms again and she laughed.

Taeyong walked her through the doorway and into the house. The inside was dark and smelled like new. Light streamed in from the streetlamp outside, through the large windows illuminating the open space of the living room and kitchen. It was like a lobby at a hotel, all open space. There was a set of stairs leading up to the second level.

"Over there," she pointed. Taeyong carried her to the light switch and she turned on the lights.

"Wow," he said, at the same time as AnAn gasped. The main level was spacious, with large windows looking out across the back yard and to the alleyway, and the other lawns and rear-facing houses along the block.

To the right side of the open area was a large fireplace, occupying the center of the living room area, with two beige leather couches and a massive flat-screen TV above the fireplace. To the left was the kitchen area, with an island counter and four stylish white stools lined up perfectly. Towards the back was an extravagant marble-top dining table with eight chairs and a new-style chandelier hanging down low from the high ceiling.

Taeyong held AnAn for a long moment, taking it all in. He didn't seem winded or tired from holding her. She had her arms around his neck and their cheeks were so close she could feel the heat of his near hers. She wanted to rest her head on his shoulder and stay in his arms forever.

"So much room," Taeyong whispered.

A breeze blew in from the front door and he set her down. AnAn closed the door and shivered.

"It probably takes a lot of heat to keep a place like this warm," she said, thinking that she sounded like her mother. Only one day married and she was already worried about things like the heating bills.

"I will get the suitcases," Taeyong said. AnAn was about to offer to help, but then realized she'd likely tumble down the stairs in her big dress or tear the hem trying to help out. She reached behind her to undo the lacing, but gave up when she couldn't even find it. She'd need Taeyong's help. Tonight, when she was tucked in bed, she'd think back to this moment and relive it over and over; Taeyong carrying her into their new home. She couldn't tell if he was just having fun with all this, or if he was actually invested in their Arrangement. But either way, it had been the best moment of her life.

The door opened again and a gust of wind blew in large snowflakes. It was snowing again and AnAn got excited thinking about their new fireplace. She'd never lived in a house with a fireplace before. Visions of cozy Christmas scenes popped into her head. They'd make hot chocolate and wear large fuzzy socks and cuddle up with a blanket to watch Netflix specials together.

Taeyong set the suitcase and two backpacks down with a thud, bringing her back to reality.

His cheeks were flushed with cold and his eyes shone.

"Here," he said with a smile, passing AnAn her phone.

"Oh, thanks." She'd left it in its holder on the car dash. Taeyong pushed the camera button on the lock screen and took the phone from her again.

"Happy Wedding Day, AnAn!" He held out the phone in front of them for a selfie. AnAn covered her face, then looked up to see Taeyong posing with a big, cheesy smile and two fingers held up in a piece sign. AnAn laughed and did the same thing, tilting her head to the side and squinting her eyes.

"Cheeese," she said.

Taeyong took the picture, then gave her back her phone.

"Do you want me to send this to you?" AnAn asked. "Do you have Facebook?"

Taeyong's expression turned serious. "No," he said. "No social media."

AnAn felt reprimanded and a little hurt by his sudden change of mood. He moved behind her and locked the front door, then began to undo the laces at the back of her dress. They removed the dress together in silence and he set it on one of the couches nearby. He was no longer smiling or playful. He seemed lost in thought.

AnAn turned on more lights and tried not to take his sudden mood change personally. The close moment they'd had talking in the car, the deer incident and the grand entrance into their new home was more than she had hoped for with an Arranged Marriage. She'd only ever had a negative view of it, not just her but all the others who'd gone through an Arrangement. Taeyong obviously had a lot on his mind and she could tell there was more to his being here in this Arrangement than simply wanting a suburban life with a random girl.

AnAn grabbed her suitcase and headed up the stairs. Taeyong didn't rush to help her this time. He sat down at the dining room table and went on his phone.

AnAn continued up the stairs to the next level hallway, flipping light switches as she went. There were three bedrooms upstairs, one unfurnished except for a bookshelf, the other set up with a simple bed, night table and lamp, and the third a master bedroom, fully furnished and with its own ensuite which had 'his and hers' sinks and a walk-in shower.

AnAn walked around the master bedroom in awe. The King-sized bed had a headboard, which looked like it was made of white leather and had a padded surface you could lean back against. There was a large, wooden dresser against one wall and the other wall had two large windows overlooking the backyard and alley.

Whose house had this once been? A rich contractor's? AnAn's inner reporter arrose. She opened up the walk-in closet and found a few clothes hanging in the far back corner. A policeman's uniform and two suit jackets. The rest of the closet was empty, except for a shoebox on the very top shelf, which AnAn couldn't reach without a ladder.

She left the walk-in closet and went back to her suitcase. She glanced at her phone and was surprised to find that it was already 1AM. She really needed out of her tight jeans.

A bang from down the hall got her attention and she went out to see if Taeyong had come up. The light in the guest room was on and AnAn peeked in.

Taeyong was hanging up his clothes in the closet and she felt a disappointment in her chest.

"This is the guest room," she said to him.

"Hello," Taeyong replied, giving her a slight nod. Then he continued to hang up his clothes. "It's a very nice room. A big room."

"It's actually pretty small. You should see the master bedroom."

"Oh..." He stopped what he was doing and nodded, ready to follow her.

"Um..." AnAn hesitated, then led him to the master bedroom.

"Wow. Wow!" Taeyong said, doing a full turn at the center of the room. "Beautiful."

He ran his hand along the white bed covers. "So clean. Perfect. Just for you." He smiled at her but she could see the tiredness in his eyes.

"You can... sleep here too," AnAn said.

"Yes, I sleep in my room," Taeyong said, pointing towards the door. "Thank you. I love it. Goodnight AnAn."

AnAn nodded in response and gave him a small wave as he left. She sighed when she heard his bedroom door close.


	12. Chapter Twelve

AnAn tiptoed down the stairs to the kitchen. She didn't want to wake Taeyong. The newly-built home didn't have even one squeaky stair, so she didn't need to worry. The large house felt ominous, too open and empty.

The lights were still on downstairs from when they had first come in and their shoes were left thrown haphazardly at the front door, where they'd done their selfie. AnAn smiled. Her mother's wedding gown was still lying on one of the couches. AnAn would have to thank her. The photo she'd gotten in the wedding dress with Taeyong was priceless.

She now tugged on her snug tank top, which hugged her chest way too tightly. She should have just brought some baggy t-shirts along with her. Taeyong hadn't even come out of his room once since they'd arrived. AnAn left her door open, in case he wanted to check in on her or chat. But he hadn't come. She was being silly. Just because he'd carried her into their new home didn't mean he would also carry her to the master bedroom and make love to her. He'd made no indication that he was interested in the "wedding night" part of their Ceremony day. And he'd taken the guest room right off the bat.

AnAn sighed and walked over to the large, double-doored fridge. She wasn't really hungry after their large feast at Moon River, but it was the middle of the night and she wanted to eat her worries away. She wasn't sure if she had a right to be disappointed in how her wedding night had ended up or not. Why would Taeyong even want to be close to her when they'd just met that morning? Why did she want to be close to him, even thought they'd just met?

When AnAn opened the fridge she was surprised to find a small platter of chocolate-covered strawberries, courtesy of Building Families. There was nothing else in the fridge. She took out the platter and set it down on the island countertop, then hopped up onto one of the white stools. She spun in a circle and giggled. She was going to love having breakfast here at the kitchen island.

The clock on the microwave showed 2:08AM. AnAn didn't feel tired at all. It was her wedding night and she was wide awake. How could she possibly sleep?

She removed the plastic wrap from the strawberries and and ate one. It was sweet, sour and bitter in all the right combinations. She ate one more, then left the rest for Taeyong, wondering if chocolate-covered strawberries was something they had in Korea too.

Restless, AnAn rummaged through the kitchen drawers and cupboards. There were pots and pans, some cutlery, four plates, four bowls, four glasses and four mugs. She found coffee pods in a pull-out compartment under the new Keureg machine. She'd seen the coffee machines in other peoples' homes but had never used one before. Rose and Terrance didn't have one. They lived in a much smaller house in the older part of town and didn't have many luxuries. It made AnAn feel almost guilty for receiving so much just by chance, simply for being matched with Taeyong.

Terrance was a 'starving artist' who worked on his music rather than at a job that Building Families considered worthy of a house like this. And Rose worked at Starbucks, which couldn't afford them more than their tiny home.

In contrast, Tayong had been given this big house because he had willingly immigrated to Canada and was helping the repopulation effort. He was also famous and could have continued to make a lot of money back home. She wondered what he would do here for a job. They still had to pay their bills, even if the house was free.

AnAn didn't mind working. In fact she was glad that she would be going back and looked forward to returning to NNN. It would feel good to be doing something normal again, something she was good at and that would help her get her mind off of all the sudden changes in her life. Spending time with Taeyong was incredible, but also exhausting. One minute he was playful and the next, quiet and somber. Hopefully she would eventually find out why he really signed up with Building Families and what happened with his music career. But for now she just wanted him to be happy.

A noise from upstairs got her attention. Was Taeyong awake?

AnAn straightened her tank top and ran her fingers through her hair. If his door was open she'd say hello, just to let him know she was still up and so he wouldn't be startled by her movements around the house.

She went up the stairs slowly, her heart beating too fast to allow for any sort of physical exertion. Living in the same house as Taeyong would take some getting used to. Her heart raced at just the thought of him being upstairs. She was very aware of him, even when he wasn't in the same room as her.

His door was now slightly ajar and she could still hear the pipes running with water from the bathroom. He must have gotten up to use the washroom and gone back to bed.

AnAn saw a dim light from inside the room so she peeked in. Blue light shone up towards the ceiling from Taeyong's cell phone, which lay beside him on the bed. His back was turned to it and he was laying on his side, facing the wall.

"Taeyong?" AnAn said softly.

He didn't respond, but she could tell he was awake. She was about to leave when she heard him say something.

"Pardon?" AnAn stepped into the room. When he didn't answer right away she moved a bit closer, in case she wasn't hearing him properly, since he was faced away from her.

His phone lit up again. Now that AnAn was closer she could see a list of notifications pop up on the screen. The words were in Korean but the emojis were clear. Crying emojis, hearts and broken hearts. She recognized some of the tiny profile pictures beside the notifications. They were his band members. They missed Taeyong.

He took in a staggering breath and AnAn wondered if he'd been crying. She sat down on his bed beside him. She wasn't good at comforting people, especially if she wasn't sure they wanted comforting. When he didn't say anything after a moment, she got up.

"You can stay," Taeyong said in a muffled voice.

AnAn swallowed hard. His bare shoulder was showing above the covers. He wasn't wearing a shirt.

He turned to look over his shoulder, as though checking to see if she was still there. Then he seemed surprised to see that she was, and quickly turned away again. His eyes were red and puffy and AnAn's heart clenched. He had been crying. And he'd asked her to stay. She was pretty sure that didn't mean just sitting on the edge of his bed like a statue all night.

She lay down on top of the blanket behind Taeyong and wrapped an arm around him. He immediately relaxed and she held him tighter, burying her face into the blanket, between his shoulder blades. She wish more than anything that she could take his pain away, but all she could do was be there for him.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

"So, you married the Interloper?" Joslyn said, leaning into AnAn's cubicle.

AnAn closed the window she'd had open on her computer. There were no assignments on the company drive for the Entertainment section, so then why had her boss called her in so urgently that morning?

She looked up at Joslyn. Not even a hello, before wanting the gossip. Maybe that's why she was a good reporter.

"I hear you went through with the Arrangement after all. So what happened?"

AnAn didn't want to talk to Joslyn about Taeyong. Fortunately, she didn't have to answer because Thomas, her boss, came rushing to her desk.

"Good, you're here." He bumped Joslyn out of the way and she gave him a snarl behind his back and left.

"I'm sorry to have to call you the morning after your..." he hesitated, clearing his throat. AnAn flushed, realizing it was technically the morning after her wedding night and that everyone in the office would think she slept with a man the night before. She had slept in Taeyong's bed, but nothing had happened. And yet, to her, it was everything. It was so special she wasn't ever going to tell anyone, even Rose. Heart was still heavy remembering how heart broken Taeyong was. That was why he'd asked her to stay with him.

"Well, anyway," Thomas continued. He adjusted his tie with his free hand, the other holding files. "Janet has left early for her maternity leave and I need this story by tomorrow." He threw down a folder onto AnAn's cluttered desk. "You're coming upstairs."

"What?" AnAn stood up. "Is there a meeting?"

Thomas was already on the move, so AnAn grabbed the folder and a pen, then hurried after him.

"I'm not compensating you for a missed honeymoon, if you've had to change plans." Thomas stopped at the elevator and pushed the button.

"No, we..."

"This is a big opportunity for you."

"Of course."

The elevator door opened and they stepped in.

AnAn smoothed down her unruly hair. She hadn't had time to style it or even shower that morning, but it still had curls from preparing it for the Ceremony Dinner and she did manage to pin it into place before rushing out of the house that morning. She'd had to speed to arrive at the office by 8am. The west side of town, where her new house was, was much farther away from the office building than her old apartment had been.

Thomas shifted the folders in his hands. He seemed deep in thought now. He'd never said more than two words to AnAn before and hated the Entertainment section of the NNN website, seeing it as a waste of space. But the higher bosses wanted to keep it as part of the site, albeit a small section with a short daily article and a larger weekly recap, which AnAn was in charge of.

She'd started as an intern for a school independent study at her high school and Thomas had hired her on for the Entertainment section on weekends, saying that a grade-schooler could write about the entertainment that was coming out of Hollywood, so he wasn't too concerned about her messing it up.

Now, suddenly he was taking AnAn upstairs, where the news team had their offices. Since NNN was global, it covered a lot more than local, Lowbridge news, and some of the staff were from the city, coming in for a few days here and there then returning to the city, where their local head office was.

"...that the other press sites are covering," Thomas said. He had his back turned to AnAn, facing the elevator doors. It was a small elevator that only needed to travel three floors, the basement, level floor and upstairs. She'd tuned out again.

"Uh..." she started, but the elevator door opened and Thomas hurried out. He was always in a hurry. AnAn jogged along side him to keep up.

"... disappearances. And maybe include a section on how K-pop all started in Korea."

"K-pop?"

Thomas stopped, gesturing with his free hand. "You know, how did it become so popular in the West? Talk about the performing arts schools and how they're funded by the Korean Government. Is this a cold war against the West? Those who control Entertainment control the minds of the people. Is Korea taking over, with these fan 'armies'?"

Thomas snapped his fingers. "That will be the next exposé. For now, focus on the K-Idols themselves, how strict and militant the entertainment companies are with them and the lengthy contracts they have to sign and can't get out of. Imply how this puts so much pressure on these poor Korean performers and they have no way out, pushing them to run away. What are these disappearances really linked to? Are they dead, or alive?"

He stopped. "I mean, don't phrase it that way. Let the readers come to their own conclusions. We need to focus on the latest disappearance." He opened a folder and looked down. "This Lee Taeyong fellow, from the band NCT. He's the latest to go missing and presumed dead. It's breaking the internet right now, especially in the East. Fans are going crazy. They're calling foul play. This is the fourth disappearance of a K-pop singer this month..."

Thomas stopped. "AnAn are you okay?"

AnAn nodded, clutching her folder in a death grip. Had he really just said Taeyong was reported missing and possibly dead? Thomas started walking and talking again. They passed the floor-to-ceiling windows which overlooked the snowy streets below. The upstairs had large plants in big clay pots and everything still smelled new, as though they'd just moved in yesterday. All the furniture looked like it had been brought in from the city and not purchased locally, like the furniture on the first level.

They walked down a wide hallway with the lavish boardrooms and glass door offices. Thomas stopped at one of the offices. "You'll be using Janet's office. I'm not going downstairs every time I want to tell you something." He pointed to the office across the hall. "My office is right there. Stop in any time if you have any questions." He looked at AnAn then, and she fought the urge to drop her gaze.

"Listen AnAn," he said. "I know this is a bigger story than you are used to covering, in fact, it's going to be our main feature on the web page tomorrow."  
"The feature?" AnAn's eyes went wide.

"But this is an entertainment story and I want to give you a chance to do it. You've been doing the Entertainment section for almost a year now and I'll be honest with you, it gets consistent views. It seems that even the most serious of news readers still want to know about the latest film, music or book release. And you do a good job of making it sound like a news story and not gossip.

"I imagine you already know a lot about this K-pop music news. We'll need quotes from the Korean Press, you'll need to contact them and get their take on this. And get comments from youth psychologists on how kids under pressure are affected by fame and strict schedules. 

"Then do some phone interviews with some conspiracy theorists, maybe a performing arts professor who has a beef against the 'Idol' culture or something, get their take on this silent war in Entertainment. Is Korea trying to take over the Entertainment world? Imagine, one word from the members of BTS to their fans, the 'BTS Army,' and they could mobilize millions to do anything they wanted. Interview one of the NCT band members if you can. Tell them you're the top journalist with NNN." 

Thomas shifted his files from one arm to another and began to gesture with his other hand this time. "I know this is a lot for just one day but all the other new sites are covering this and we can't wait until it's old news. Do the research today and contact the Korean Press tonight, overnight if you have to, with their time zone. Just get it put together. I want a rough draft on my desk by 10AM tomorrow."

He paused, assessing her for a moment. "The word around the office is that your Match is Korean. He can help with translating for you. I'll be honest, it's part of the reason I picked you for this feature."

AnAn's mind was reeling. He was giving her the NNN feature? She should have taken notes while he talked.

"I've outlined the key points I want you to cover in that file," Thomas said, as though he'd read her thoughts. He pointed to the folder she was holding. "And your new husband... what's his name?"

AnAn froze. Thomas waited and she quickly said the first thing that came to her mind, the name her mother had used at the Ceremony dinner last night. "Tyler. Tyler Young."

"Tyler. Okay, find out who he knows back in Korea and see if he has any contacts who can get you in touch with the SM Entertainment people. I'm counting on you AnAn. Don't let me down."

With that he was gone and already on his cell phone, before the glass doors to his office even closed.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

AnAn paused the video she'd been watching on the origins of K-pop. Despite her boss's confidence in her knowing all things 'Entertainment,' she didn't actually know much about K-pop. Apparently the first Modern K-pop 'Idol' culture began with the boy band in 1996. 

She'd taken a lot of notes and cross-referenced Wikipedia pages with other sources and now also with the documentary-style infomercial video she'd found online. The history of K-pop could be a feature all on its own. But she needed to cover it in just one paragraph and was having a hard time cutting it down from what she'd written so far, which was more than two pages long.

AnAn looked out into the dimly-lit halls on the other side of her glass office wall. The office across from hers was dark now. When had Thomas left? She hadn't even noticed, although he'd stayed a lot longer than the other staff. The weather was getting bad and everyone wanted to get home early, before the blizzard hit.

AnAn glanced at her phone. It was already 8pm. She'd been here for 12 hours. She wasn't normally a workaholic, but this feature was her chance to get noticed in the journalist world. She'd gotten quotes from the Korean Press, who apparently worked in the middle of the night too when there was a big story to cover. They sounded very awake when she'd called. They also spoke English, which helped a lot. They were delighted to talk to her and asked her a lot of questions about Building Families, which AnAn couldn't answer.

They were suspicious of Building Families, whom they thought was secretly kidnapping their star performers in some agenda to stop the widespread popularity of some of the key bands in the industry. On the flip side, the American reporters were suspicious of the Korean Government starting some secret war on Entertainment, and eventually the world. AnAn didn't know what to think. She needed to do more research. And she needed to talk to Taeyong.

Her stomach growled. The chocolate bars she'd eaten from the vending machines that afternoon weren't going to cut it anymore. She had to get real food.

A ding from her cell phone drew her attention away from Janet's computer.

'Rose sent you an image.'

AnAn unlocked her phone to look at the message. Taeyong smiled back at her from the screen. He was doing an anime-style pose, with two fingers in front of one eye and a big smile with a dramatic wink. AnAn laughed. He looked different. His hair was black now.

The next message that came in said, 'what do you think? Does he look less conspicuous now?'

AnAn typed a reply. 'Hardly.'

'How about now?' came the response.

Rose sent another image, this time of Taeyong wearing black-rimmed glasses with a serious expression on his face.

AnAn laughed again.

'Much better,' she replied.

Her smile faded as she studied the photo. Taeyong was in danger. She knew that much. That's why she'd asked Rose to do her a favour today and buy some hair dye for Taeyong. Rose didn't work today and AnAn was worried, after seeing all the news stories of Taeyong's disappearance.

It made sense that he'd been brought to Lowbridge, a small, unknown place in the middle of nowhere Canada, if he didn't want to be spotted. And now she understood why he'd seemed so uncomfortable in public after arriving here. He didn't want to be recognized. But why? And how much did he know about all that was going on? Building Families obviously knew who he was; his name and photo were in his file.

They must be involved, but AnAn wasn't sure yet if they were the good guys or the bad guys. Did they help Taeyong, or did they capture him? His pleading on their Ceremony day, that she not challenge their Arrangement, told her that Building Families was likely helping, rather than doing something evil.

AnAn remembered the notifications that had come up on Taeyong's phone last night. He'd ignored them and hadn't even looked at them. Maybe he couldn't reply to them. Maybe that's when the news first came out that he was missing, and he couldn't tell his friends where he was. Maybe he wasn't allowed to have contact with them anymore.

AnAn opened her other file on her computer, the one highlighting Taeyong's story. She was determined to make it clear in her article that Taeyong's disappearance most definitely did not have to do with him running away. She focused on his ambition to be a rapper, his talent as a dancer and his hard work as part of the NCT team. Her article pointed at foul play, which she knew her boss would approve of, yet she made no mention of Building Families. She didn't want to draw attention their way, especially if it would expose Taeyong's whereabouts. The national news in the West hadn't picked up on any connection to Building Families, but the East was beginning to.

AnAn rubbed at her eyes. She'd have to take a break before putting the rough draft all together in one file. The Origins of K-pop section definitely needed to be downsized into a regular sized paragraph, but the spotlight on the recent disappearance would remain as it was - the longest part of the article - strongly suggesting that Taeyong would never just leave his band for no reason.

AnAn picked up her phone and texted Rose, thanking her for helping Taeyong dye his hair.

'Terrance and Jerry donated some of their clothes to Taeyong, so he can go out in disguise and buy some of his own,' Rose replied.

AnAn sat up in her chair. 'What did you tell them?!!'

'Don't worry,' Rose write back right away. 'I didn't tell them anything. I just said he wanted to fit in with the locals because he was looking for a job with the construction crew, building new houses in your area.'

AnAn relaxed. Rose was smart. She didn't know the whole story, but AnAn had shared some of the global news coverage with her of Taeyong's disappearance. It wasn't exactly top news in Lowbridge, but Rose's cousin from the city had heard about it and she was holding an overnight candlelight vigil in Taeyong's honour, hoping he'd be found.

The quiet room suddenly filled with the sound of AnAn's upbeat ringtone. She jumped, then scrambled to answer the phone. It was Rose.

"Hello?"

"We're outside," Rose said, her voice sounding nasally, the way people in cold weather sounded on the phone.

"What? You came here? But Taeyong-"

"There's literally no one on the roads, don't worry. No one saw him. And besides it's blizzarding too."

"I'll be right down. Are you at the back doors?"

"Yes. You're upstairs?"

"Yes. Long story. See you in a minute."

AnAn hurried through the dark halls. The common area was lit by the street lamps outside, through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and looked almost like a film set. AnAn took the stairs instead of the slow elevator and made her way through the eerie halls of the main level, where there weren't windows.

When she pushed open the back doors, a gust of blowing snow hit her in the face and she shook violently. "Hurry, come inside," she gestured towards Rose and Taeyong, who were both bundled up in big winter coats.

Taeyong stepped in but Rose remained outside. She waved a gloved hand. "I have to get home," she mumbled through her scarf. "It's been a long day for me." She patted her belly and AnAn understood. Rose had been feeling very tired lately and had given away some of her shifts at work, trying to manage her nausea and fatigue with the early stages of pregnancy.

"Thanks again!" AnAn called into the storm, then she closed the heavy door, locking out the chill.

Taeyong looked at her through the small opening of his hood, lined with fur with fur.

AnAn smiled. "Is that you in there, Taeyong?"

He nodded and, although she could only see his eyes, she could tell he was smiling back.

He held up a bag and AnAn saw that he'd brought take-out.

"Oh, thank goodness! I'm starving."


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Taeyong looked at everything in quiet interest as they walked back to AnAn's office. The blizzard had picked up and all that could be seen outside the large windows of the common room area were the large snowflakes crashing into the glass.

AnAn didn't know where the main light switch for the second level was but the streetlamps outside lit up the common room area and the light spread into the hallways, which had an eerie red glow from the EXIT sign at the end door which led to the stairs. She stopped before they reached her office, causing Taeyong to run into her.

"Sorry," she said. "Let's eat out in the common room." Her papers and print-outs for her story were spread out on her desk and she didn't want Taeyong to see them. He'd wonder why she was doing research on his disappearance and she hadn't had a chance to talk to him about it yet. Not to mention she'd printed out some fan information about his likes and habits that she didn't even need for the article but was simply curious about, and now suddenly she felt like a stalker.

They returned to the common room and Taeyong set the take-out bags down on the coffee table. He looked different with black hair, more relaxed, as though he could tell the change in colour made him stand out less. He removed his jacket and was wearing a Coldplay t-shirt with a plaid shirt over top and a zip-up hoodie over that, with blue-jeans which were a little big on him and boots. 

The clothes didn't make him look plain, but quite the opposite. He looked even more attractive and exotic to AnAn, in his small town get-up. It made him look younger, like an exchange student from high school. It would definitely help him blend in better in Lowbridge. If he wore a cap and pulled it down to hide his beautiful eyes he'd be less noticeable than before, when he had his bright coloured runners and strawberry blonde hair.

They both took a seat on one of the long couches in front of the windows and Taeyong glanced up at AnAn from beneath his mop of black hair. She quickly looked away, embarrassed to have been caught staring, and busied herself with taking out the food. There was a burger, chicken strips, fries, water bottles and two chocolate dipped donuts. They'd gone to more than one drive-through.

"Thank you," AnAn said. "For bringing food."

"Thank you," Taeyong said in return, pointing to his hair.

"Do you like it?"

"Hmm." He nodded.

They sorted out the food, AnAn picking the chicken fingers and one donut, and Taeyong taking the burger and fries, and the other donut.

AnAn turned her attention to the large windows behind them, looking for a distraction so she wouldn't be tempted to stare at Taeyong. The snow was still falling hard outside and she could no longer make out the street below. Everything was just a pile of white.

They ate in silence and Taeyong seemed lost in thought. AnAn didn't interfere with talking and decided to wait for him to initiate conversation. She prefered that he tell her what was going on, when he was ready. She didn't know how to tell him that she'd been assigned to investigate his disappearance.

The vending machine at the entrance grew quiet and the room settled into a dense quiet that was only possible when the world outside was white and the blanket of snow muffled every sound. It was peaceful but felt like the calm before the storm.

"You work hard," Taeyong said all of a sudden. They were done eating and it was time to tell him about the story she'd been assigned.

"I've been given a big story to cover," AnAn started.

"Story?"

"I'm a writer." She kept her gaze down. She was skirting around the issue. She should have said she was a reporter. But technically she wasn't. Her actual job editing the small daily Entertainment article on the NNN website, she was currently just filling in for Janet.

AnAn sighed, the tiredness of the long day settling onto her all of a sudden. She didn't even have the energy to finish her donut.

"We should go home," she said, not ready for a long conversation about Building Families and Idol disappearances and government conspiracies. A warm feeling travelled over her at the thought of going home. She'd been worried that it would take her a long time to adjust to a new place, and that she would miss her apartment. But she didn't miss it. She loved their new house the minute she'd walked in. Even if there were no groceries in the fridge at the moment and none of her stuff was moved over yet, she could hardly wait to return to it. Their new house was already a safe place for her, the place she'd had chocolate covered strawberries on her wedding night and held Taeyong until they both fell asleep.

Looking at him now it seemed impossible that he'd allowed her to hold him. He was even more striking with his dark hair.

Taeyong gathered all their wrappers and put them in the paper bag. Even when he seemed tired and sad he was neat and resourceful. AnAn would have offered to help but it took all her energy just to get up off the couch and head to her temporary office to get her jacket.

She'd left the lights on in the office and the white light stung her eyes as she neared the glass doors.

Her desk was littered with all of her printouts and folders, reminding her that she wasn't done the rough draft of the feature story yet. She just couldn't do it at the moment. The only thing on her mind was the warmth of her bed. Actually, not her bed at the apartment, nor the large king size bed in the master bedroom of their new home, but the guest room bed, where she'd slept with Taeyong.

AnAn rubbed at her eyes. She'd give Taeyong his privacy and only lay down with him if he invited her. Or she could ask.

She moved about the office. Where was her purse and keys? Had she left them at her cubicle downstairs? She lifted some papers and then went to look at the side of the couch, in case her purse had fallen.

"You are, with the media?"

AnAn stood up abruptly at the sound of Taeyong's voice. He'd followed her into her office.

"No-"

The confusion and disbelief in Taeyong's eyes was unmistakable. He held a page with his picture on it; the official police statement from Korea of his disappearance.

His expression turned dark, anger replacing the fear she'd seen for a quick moment in his eyes. He let the page drop and hurried out of the room.

"Wait!" AnAn ran after him. Her heart was raced and she was no longer tired. She felt like the worst person in the world. "I meant to tell you," she tried to say but Taeyong was already in the elevator before she could get to it. The doors closed and she banged her fist on the metal doors. Where was he going?

The stairs. 

She abandoned the elevator and made for the doors that led to the stairs. She couldn't let him disappear for real.

The stairwell was dark and scary but she didn't let that stop her. AnAn hurried to the back doors where she assumed Taeyong was going. The busses likely weren't running in this weather and he'd freeze outside.

When she got to the back door Taeyong was slamming against it, trying to get it opened.

"It's probably locked," AnAn said.

He stopped but didn't turn around. After a moment he stepped aside and AnAn checked the lock. It was unlocked. She pushed on the door but it didn't open. She tried harder. Panic rose in her chest and she took two calming breaths. She would just try the front doors.

"You forgot your jacket upstairs," she said to Taeyong. He didn't reply. "I was going to tell you. I've been asked to do this article-"

"I need to go," Taeyong said.

"I won't tell anyone you're here," AnAn insisted. "I'm not writing this article to expose where you are. I'm writing it because my boss asked me to but he doesn't know you're... Taeyong from NCT."

Taeyong didn't answer but simply walked away, avoiding looking at her.

AnAn let him go, hoping that he was just heading upstairs to get his jacket and that they would go home and talk about this. She went to the front doors, needing to be reassured that they were going to open. The back door was stuck and it made her uneasy.

At the front the streets looked completed black through the glass front doors, which scared AnAn. But when she got closer she noticed that it wasn't the outdoors that were black, but the glass doors.

They were snowed in.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

The room spun and AnAn grabbed the edge of the front desk.

They were buried under many feet of snow. They couldn't get out. She took a deep breath but couldn't get enough air. They were trapped. Who would find them? When would the snow melt? What if they never got out?

She vaguely registered Taeyong walking into the front area and assessing the front doors. He said something to her but she couldn't make out the words. She no longer felt like she was in her own body.

"AnAn?"

Her name on Taeyong's lips brought her back to reality, if only for a moment. He was guiding her somewhere, towards the stairs. They were walking but she still couldn't get enough air and began to slow down. Then suddenly her feet were off the ground and Taeyong was carrying her.

It was dark, then light again. She was laying down on a couch, covered by a blanket, no, a jacket. Taeyong's jacket. Light was streaming in from outside. They were upstairs again and the streetlamps were shining through the windows. The sky looked pink. The other businesses down the street weren't as buried as they were. The wind had blown the snow up against the front of their office building.

AnAn's panic began to subside. They were above the snow now, above being buried under it. She could breathe here. They could break the glass windows with a chair if they really had to. But for now, it was okay. Sleep and safety were all AnAn wanted.

She turned onto her side and began to focus back to reality. Taeyong was kneeling beside the couch, next to her, his hand holding hers.

"Do you understand?" he said. His eyes were full of worry as he watched her. She was angry at herself for putting that worry there.

"What?" she said.

"Is this panic?"

AnAn blinked. Panic? Yes, she was having a panic attack, or maybe it was shock, but it was subsiding now. She was claustrophobic and the sudden realization that they were snowed in had thrown her into a panic attack.

"I'm... okay," she said.

Taeyong moved closer and rested his head on the edge of the couch, bringing her hand in his up to his cheek. "If the police are coming," he said softly, "I will be taken away."

"No," AnAn said. "Your name is Tyler Young and you're my husband. They won't ask if you are a famous K-pop Idol, not here in Lowbridge. Don't worry."

Taeyong closed his eyes and AnAn's heart clenched. He looked so tired.

"Please, promise," he said softly. When he didn't continue AnAn assumed he meant that she promise what she was saying is true. But then he said, "promise you won't tell my secret."

"I think Building Families knows. I wanted to ask you, but not because of the news story I am writing. I am confused about what is going on. But you don't have to tell me tonight." AnAn's eyes were closed now. She was so very tired, having been putting the feature together for twelve hours that day then the panic attack. "You don't have to tell me..." AnAn said, her voice trailing off. She was falling in and out of sleep, but she wanted to reassure Taeyong that she wasn't some reporter who was going to expose him.

"I won't tell the media where you are," she said softly. "Just promise you won't run away. And that you'll be with me."

She was dreaming of a beach.

"I'll be with you," Taeyong was saying.

AnAn drifted into a dream. It was summer and the sun was bright. Taeyong held her hand as they walked along the beach. He was smiling, teasing her about being afraid of the ocean, and of snow. He winked and chased after her. They were on an island with a tropical style resort. Was this their honeymoon?

The hotel room they were staying at was not a room but a separate hut, sitting on poles above the bright blue waters. A long dock ran across the shallow lagoon towards the shore, other huts on either side. The tropical paradise past the shoreline looked like an island.

Their hut had steps which led from the back deck right into the ocean waters.

AnAn wore a light summer dress and her hair was long again, longer than ever, all the way down to her waist. Taeyong wore swimming trunks and no shirt. His stomach muscles were firm and she longed to run her fingers over his six pack. "It's our honeymoon," she told him. "Will you be with me? I won't tell, as long as you promise to be with me."

He looked uncomfortable then and AnAn regretted her choice of words.

But before he could answer a wave splashed through the hut's back patio doors right into the room they stood in, soaking the bed and knocking AnAn off her feet. She turned to see a large boat, docking against their hut, which had caused the wave. It said 'Police' on the side and also had Korean writing next to the words.

Men in security uniforms and bullet proof vests came rushing into the room, their boots thumping on the delicate wooden floors. They held guns and Taeyong put his hands up in surrender.

"He didn't do anything!" AnAn yelled, but her panic was rendering her useless and she felt like she was going to pass out. The young, Building Families Official who had given AnAn her debriefing stepped down from the boat, papers in hand. She lifted a page to show AnAn. It said 'NNN Breaking News' across the top, 'Taeyong found dead in a boating accident.'

"No!" AnAn yelled, then sat up.

She was on a couch in the common room of the NNN office building. Bright sunlight streamed in from the windows. She squinted into the sunshine. Outside, cars drove down the road. A snowplow truck flung snow into the air. Shop owners shovelled their store front sidewalks and the snow was already turning into a muddy slush under the sun's rays.

AnAn looked around the common room area. How long had she slept? Her phone sat on the coffee table near by and she grabbed it, but it wouldn't turn on. Then she realized the battery was dead and set the phone down again.

"Taeyong?"

AnAn set his jacket aside and rubbed her sore back.

The article! It was due this morning!

AnAn shot up from the couch and ran to Janet's office. Thomas wasn't in his office yet and AnAn's computer was still on.

She sat down and rubbed her face. She just had to condense the 'Origins of K-Pop' section of her article then put it all together, do some preliminary edits on it and site all her sources, then hand it in to Thomas for approval.

The computer desktop said it was 9:25AM.

AnAn's fingers became clammy against the keyboard. There wasn't enough time to prepare everything. She grabbed for the phone.

"Hello?" Thomas sounded alert when he answered her call and she wondered if he was out covering a news story.

"Hi, Thomas. When will you be in the office?" AnAn asked.

"It's snowed in. Wait, are you there right now?"

"Um... yes."

"How did you get in? The city said they'd contact us when they had it cleared."

"Well-"

"Do you have that feature done?"

"Almost."

"I'm coming in. We were covering a story in the city this morning and we're on our way back."

"Are the highways even safe?"

"They're fine. Lowbridge got the most of the blizzard, and even worse down south into the states. I'll be in before 11AM."

"See you soon," AnAn said.

She set the phone down and let out a sigh. She'd have a bit more time.

A page with Taeyong's image caught her attention. Suddenly she remembered him holding it and the look on his face. The look of betrayal. He'd thought she was a reporter trying to expose him to the public.

AnAn sat up. No, she'd cleared that up with him last night. Hadn't she?

The details of what had happened were hazy. The details of her dream about them being on a honeymoon were more clear than the actual events of last night. She'd gone into a sort of shock, from her fear of being trapped and buried under snow.

AnAn looked back to her computer. She would make sure no one knew Taeyong was here in Lowbridge with her, Taeyong the member of NCT. He would be called Tyler now, or some abbreviation of Tyler Young, like T.Y. It was by some heavenly intervention that she'd been assigned to this story and not Janet. Other news sites were also covering this same story, but only AnAn knew where Taeyong was. Her, and Building Families.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

"Next in line!" the secretary at the front counter yelled. She was seated up high, behind a glass window with a small opening at the bottom to allow for documents and money to be slipped under for transactions.

AnAn stepped up to the counter, which came up almost to her shoulders.

"How can I help you?" the lady said, not looking at her.

AnAn resisted the urge to scratch under her wig. It was a Halloween wig she had found at her mom's place. She'd braided it and forced a cap overtop to make it look less fake. The cameras in the Government Building would be fooled at least. She didn't want them to know she had come here to inquire about her own Ceremony. But after finding out that other reporters were now on Taeyong's trail, she had to know what the staff here knew or were willing to share with others.

"Yes, hello," AnAn said, trying to sound official. Jerry's old glasses slid down her nose and she quickly pushed them up again. "I'm a reporter with CTV News and I'm here to investigate an anonymous tip we received from... one of our viewers."

"I'm sorry but you're going to have to make an appointment with-"

"We're looking into the disappearance of a Korean man named Taeyong. The Building Families list of Arranged Marriages are public record, are they not?"

The Administrative Assistant narrowed her eyes at AnAn and turned back to her computer screen.

AnAn wasn't sure if she had been dismissed or not, so she remained at the counter.

"There is no record of anyone from Korea being Matched here in Lowbridge," the secretary said after a moment.

"It's spelled T.A.E.Y.O.N.G. and the Ceremony was on Thursday."

The secretary sighed heavily, but seemed to be searching on her computer anyway.

"Nope. There were five Arranged Marriage Ceremonies done by Building Families on Thursday and none of the Matches were Korean." The assistant turned away then snapped a sheet of paper from the printer nearby and handed it to AnAn. "These are the recorded Matches for the last week."

AnAn took the sheet and the lady yelled, "next in line!" louder than necessary, making AnAn jump then step away from the counter.

She studied the list. Taeyong's name wasn't on the list and hers wasn't either.

Was Building Families hiding the records? Or was it a completely different organization that had come and Arranged their marriage, posing as Building Families? That would explain all the lack of communication she'd had with Building Families before the Ceremony day arrived.

AnAn's cell phone rang loudly, disrupting the mundane peace of the Government building's front hall. The children's song blasted from her phone as she dug it out of her back pocket, affording her a death glare from the front desk lady.

"Hello? Hello?" AnAn fumbled with the phone. She had to remember to turn down the ringer volume.

"Miller!" Thomas's voice boomed from the speaker.

"Ouch." AnAn flinched and pulled the phone away.

"Where are you?"

"I handed in the article," AnAn said quickly. "It's on your desk-"  
"I've got a source from the city who says your Match is this missing Taeyong fellow," Thomas said, getting right to the point. AnAn almost dropped her phone. She stepped outside into chilly noonday sun.

"That's... impossible," she said, her mind racing. What should she say?

"Apparently this girl heard you say your Match looks exactly like him, and then two days later he was reported missing."

AnAn swallowed hard. "This source wouldn't happen to be Sofia Torres, would it?"

"Yes, it is."

"She's Rose's little cousin, from the city. My best friend, Rose. She's-"

"Oh. Well your best friend's cousin has stirred up some hype and I think there's a few reporters at NNN sniffing on your trail."

"They're looking for me?" AnAn scratched behind her neck where the wig was itching. "That's a dead end. Tell them that just because my Match is Korean doesn't mean he's the missing guy. There are a lot of Korean's in this world, and thinking all Koreans look the same is really racist."

Thomas' laughter erupted from the phone and AnAn let out a sigh of relief. 

"I'll tell them you said that," Thomas said.

AnAn's phone beeped with another incoming call. It was Jerry. He'd discovered his missing glasses, no doubt. But he only wore contacts so she didn't think it would matter.

"I have someone on the other line, Mr. Kazz," AnAn said. "But I promise you my Match isn't a world famous K-Pop Idol. He came from a working class family in Korean and joined the Match pool hoping for a new start in Canada. He's wants to work hard and send money back home to his impoverished family in his hometown." AnAn cringed at her ridiculous story. But she'd discovered the more vague a person was, the more a reporter will try to get answers, so she needed some detailed lies.

"Bring him around the office some time," Thomas said. "I'd like to meet this guy. Your article was good." The conversation bounced around from one idea to another, which was the way Thomas's brain worked. "It needs a lot of editing, but we'll post it by 3PM. It's unbiased and leaves the opinions up to the readers. The other news sites are treating this like tabloid gossip, making unfounded accusations left and right. But your article simply states the facts. Well done, Miller. Very professional."

"Thank you, sir."

Thomas hung up without a goodbye and AnAn quickly accepted Jerry's call.

"Sorry I took your glasses," she said.

"What?" Jerry sounded less laid-back than he usually did. "Listen, you might want to come to the apartment and clear some things up."

"What do you mean?" AnAn's heart raced again. Did Jerry put two and two together and figure everything out about Taeyong? But he was clueless about pop culture.

"Some reporters came snooping around here, asking for you. They want to meet your Match. Sorry, I forgot his name."

AnAn had never been so happy for Jerry's lack of paying attention.

"His name is Tyler. He never uses his Korean name," AnAn said. She hated lying to Jerry, but she couldn't tell too many people about everything.

"Oh. Okay, well I sent the reporters away, saying you weren't home. They might be heading for your work."

"You didn't tell them where my new house is, did you?"

"I totally forgot you have a new house now! No wonder you weren't home. What should I tell them if they come back?"

AnAn thought fast. "I won't be coming home because Tae- Tyler and I have already left for our honeymoon. But don't tell anyone where our new house is."

"I seriously don't know where your new house is."

"Don't even tell them we moved."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes. I just don't want reporters peeking in our windows at the new house, while we're away. I swear everyone in the prairies acts as though they've never seen a Korean person before. Obviously Tyler isn't a world famous pop-star. He's just Korean. Tell them to go to the city. They'll find more Korean people there and maybe one of them will be this missing K-pop guy. But it isn't Tyler. And we aren't interested in talking to the press about some news story that has nothing to do with us. I'm already working at NNN. The last thing I want is more reporters around me."

"Okay, then," Jerry said, sounding cautious. "So, when will you be back?"

"I don't know, exactly. Depends on work. But maybe in a week."

Where would they even go? They had to leave Lowbridge, that was for sure, at least until the reporters who had descended upon the town left. They'd likely ask questions at the Government Building, as she had. But the trail would end here, and if they went snooping around her workplace, Thomas would set them straight. He hated the other news networks and sites. He saw them as lower class competition to NNN.

"Jerry, I gotta go. I'll post pictures on Facebook of the honeymoon," AnAn said, a smile playing on her lips at the personal joke.

"And I'll be sure to like them," Jerry replied. They both knew Jerry would never check his Facebook feed, and that AnAn wasn't going to be posting any photos. It was their way of saying, 'keep in touch, but definitely not through facebook.'

AnAn ended the call and hurried to her car. It was time for an impromptu trip to the mountains.


	18. Chapter 18

"Where are you going?" Taeyong asked. 

AnAn threw her toothbrush into her backpack. She didn't have many clothes with her, just what she'd brought from the apartment the day before. But she couldn't go back to the apartment now.

"We are going," she said, distracted.

"We are going," Taeyong repeated. "Where?"

"Away."

She stopped and looked over her shoulder. Taeyong had a worried expression on his face.

"We need to get out of Lowbridge for a while," AnAn said. "There are reporters, not me, but other reporters, from the city who are looking for you."

Taeyong nodded and didn't seem to need anymore explanation. He left suddenly and went to the guest room, where his stuff was.

There wasn't much to pack and AnAn had no idea where they would go, but it was only early afternoon, so they could get a few hours of driving done before it got too dark. She'd head to the mountains. Her mom had taken her to British Columbia on road trips when she was little and she was familiar with the towns and tourist areas.

AnAn groaned when she looked into the empty drawers of the large dresser. She only had one extra pair of underwear and socks, the rest was back at the apartment. But she didn't trust the snoopy reporters. They were probably staking out the place in their car. She saw the pink lingerie Rose had given her as a wedding gift, sitting by itself in the drawer. It wasn't exactly practical underwear, but she threw it in her backpack anyway.

Taeyong came into the room just as she put the lacy outfit in her bag. She jumped in surprise, then blushed deeply. He looked down at her bag, and she was worried he'd seen the flash of bright pink. 

He shifted his backpack on his shoulder and didn't say anything, although his face was flushing red now too. Why had she packed the lingerie? Maybe he hadn't seen it. She couldn't take it out now, in front of him and return it to the drawer. She quickly zipped up her backpack.

"Um..." AnAn cleared her throat. "I'm done packing. I guess we should just go then?"

Taeyong nodded and pulled his cap farther down. He was wearing another combination of Jerry and Terrance clothes, this time a band t-shirt which was black, black jeans, and his black bracelet that Rose had given. All the black made him look emo, with his white skin tone and black hair, except the tractor-company cap on his head deterred from the cool look. AnAn couldn't help but smile. That cap had definitely come from Jerry, who had bought it as a joke at a garage sale last summer.

"Bring your jacket," she said to Taeyong. "We're going to the mountains."

\-----------

The radio played a mundane song as they drove, which sounded like every other female singer on the radio. AnAn took the next exit onto the highway. She'd filled the car with gas and checked her bank account. There was more money than she'd expected on her last paycheck, but not enough to get them very far, or keep them on the run for too long. It would just be for a week or so, until all the hype blew over and Building Families successfully denied all knowledge of bringing Taeyong to Lowbridge. Once the city people left, the rest of the farming town wouldn't care who Taeyong was.

"I have money," Taeyong said now.

"Money? Oh, that's okay." AnAn turned the music down. "I've got a bit of money. We should be okay."

"Building Families, give me this." Taeyong held up a black credit card with silver numbers on it.

AnAn frowned. "When did they contact you?"

"At the Ceremony. It will always be... useful."

"Useful? How much does it have on it?"

"How much? It will always have use."

"Like we can use as much as we want?"

"Yes."

AnAn wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. Using the card meant Building Families could track them wherever they went.

"Well, we'll use my card for now," AnAn said. She turned up the music again as the car sped up on the highway. There were no other cars on the road at the moment and the sky was clear. She settled back in her seat. They would drive towards B.C. That would take a couple hours at least. And maybe stop for food somewhere. But not Fort Town. It was too close to home and she wanted to make some distance before stopping. They'd bypass the city altogether, which was up north. They were headed west, chasing after the sun.

AnAn smiled. She liked road trips. Except for night time driving, but it wouldn't be night time until supper and the idea of heading out on the road, with no particular destination in mind, was exciting.

Taeyong seemed to be in a better mood too. He'd removed his cap and his bangs hung into his eyes, making him look truly emo now. AnAn didn't mind the look. It wasn't a style she'd never gotten into, but on Taeyong, it looked hot.

He fidgeted with the stereo controls, probably trying to figure out the bluetooth. Even his fingers and wrists were sexy when he used them. Suddenly AnAn remembered her dream from last night. 

Her slight gasp was drowned out by the noise of the little car's engine, pushing up a slow slope against the wind.

They'd been at the beach and Taeyong had been shirtless. AnAn grabbed the steering wheel tight. What had she said to him? Did she ask him to sleep with her? In her dream? She felt as though she had, in some round-about way. And yet, she knew he understood that's what she was asking. But it was just a dream. Although.. what had she said while awake, after her panic attack? She'd only gone into shock like that two other times in her life, and both times she'd gone through the day like a zombie and couldn't recall conversations or what she'd done the next day, like a drunk person with a memory blackout.

Korean rap music came booming out of the speakers and Taeyong turned it down. He smiled at her, as though to say he'd succeeded in connecting his phone's bluetooth and she smiled back, giving him a thumbs up. He was so adorable when he smiled. The music seemed to cheer him up and he sang along, impressively fast, to the lyrics, rapping like a pro.

After the first song he paused the music app on his phone and asked her if she had any requests.

"No, no. I think you have the better taste in music," she told him. "You can be the D.J."

He gave her a wink and AnAn's insides flipped. Did he have any idea how dangerous his wink was? If she wasn't driving she would have jumped into his lap.

Well, maybe not, but she sure wanted to.

The drive to the border went by fast and AnAn didn't even recall passing through Fort Town. They entered the Frank Mountain area, which was the last thing on the road before the border to the next province. Taeyong turned the music down.

"Whoa!" he gasped, rolling down his window. The speed limit had decreased and they were nearing the only main area of the town which AnAn knew had an A&W and an ice-cream drive-in. They passed by the massive rocks spread out on either side of the road as far as the eye could see. The tall mountain, which had once stood next to the town of Frank, was now in a million pieces, covering everything in sight with big rocks. It had collapsed over a century ago, crushing the town and killing everyone in it, except for one baby, as far as AnAn remembered from her school field trips out here. Taeyong seemed so fascinated that she couldn't help but pull over. He quickly got out and took pictures with his phone.

"What is this?" he asked, ducking his head into the open car window.

"It was a huge mountain that fell on the town and crushed it, killing everyone."

He gave her a perplexed look, then went back to taking photos.

"Taeyong, come. Let's go to the interpretive center."

Everything with Taeyong was brand new and fun. He looked at the displays in the Frank Slide Interpretive Center with pure fascination. Then spent over half an hour picking out a rock from all the colourful mineral and gem stones in the gift shop. He even watched the film presentation in the small theater room, which AnAn couldn't watch because she didn't want to trigger her claustrophobia by seeing a documentary on how miners worked in the coal mines and in the tunnels, before the explosives brought the entire mountain down. 

She picked out some practical things from the gift shop while waiting for Taeyong to watch the film; a tourist t-shirt and a bottle of headache medicine. She could buy underwear and noodle bowls in the next town, maybe they could stop at the ski town a couple hours ahead.

At the check-out, she came across a wall of pamphlets for local attractions. One caught her eye. It was a pamphlet for the Fairmont Hot Springs. She opened it and had a look. Her mom had taken her there when she was ten, and it was magical. It was also not too far to drive today, maybe another 3 hours.

"Do you ski?" the lady at the register asked.

"What? No, not really."

"Fernie has a beautiful ski resort. It'll be busy this time of year, lots of people and things going on."

AnAn decided they wouldn't stop in the ski town after all. If there were lots of people then Taeyong might get seen and someone might take a picture and reveal his location to the media. "What about the hot springs?" AnAn asked, showing her the pamphlet.

"Oh, they're beautiful. But mostly the older folk, you know. I recommend you go to Banff, lots of shopping and young people there."

AnAn smiled and paid for her purchases. She'd definitely avoid banff too then, if there were a lot of young people there who might recognize Taeyong. But the Fairmont Hot Springs sounded more and more appealing. A resort tucked away in the mountains and nowhere near any cities, frequented by the retired and elderly. That would be better than Fernie or Banff. And past Fernie, going west, she wasn't sure where they could stay, especially if she didn't want to be driving for too long, in the dark at night.

"Thanks again," AnAn said to the cashier, then took her purchases to a seating area to wait for Taeyong.

When the people started coming out of the theater area, AnAn didn't even notice because she was on her phone, looking up more information about the Hot Springs. The resort was not very expensive, considering it included access to the hot pools and a free breakfast, and the price dropped drastically during the week.

"Surprise, AnAn."

"What?" AnAn looked up to see a large stuffed moose being thrust at her. Taeyong set it on her lap.

"For you," he said.

"You bought this?" AnAn picked up the stuffed animal. She couldn't help but smile. It was so impractical and incredibly sweet. "I really don't need a stuffy. I'm all grown up now."

"You didn't bring the," he gestured with his hand on his forehead.

"The unicorn stuffie from my bed?"

He nodded and AnAn blushed. "No, it's..." she started to say, but then didn't bother lying this time about the stuffie not belonging to her.

"He can sleep with you," Taeyong said, pointing to the moose. Then suddenly his smile faded for a moment but he quickly tried to hide it. "And I will too, of course."

AnAn wasn't sure what to think. But before she could say anything else, Taeyong got up and stretched. The band shirt lifted, revealing his toned stomach and AnAn let out a slow breath. She forced herself to look away before Taeyong caught her staring.

"We should go," she said, getting up. "We don't want to be driving in the dark."


	19. Chapter Nineteen

It was dark when AnAn pulled her small car into the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort parking lot. Taeyong was asleep in the passenger seat, exhausted from his enthusiastic photo taking all the way there.

They'd stopped in Sparwood, Fernie and Fort Steele, although the Heritage Town of Fort Steele wasn't fully open for the season. But they were allowed to walk around the abandoned heritage town, which was like the set of an old western movie. Taeyong wanted to go around the entire town, but the sun had already hidden behind a mountain and AnAn didn't want to drive in the dark. She had to drag him out of the gift shop. He'd bought a fragrant bar of soap with real wildflowers in it, a Fort Steele keychain with a horse and carriage on it, and an Old Western Style "Wanted Dead or Alive" photo frame made of card stock paper.

"What picture are you even going to put in there?" AnAn asked, after they'd gotten back on the road.

"Picture of me!" Taeyong held it up with a big grin on his face. "And I will take it in your work office." AnAn had laughed out loud. 

Now they'd finally arrived at the Hot Springs Resort, which was built in the log cabin style, cozy yet still in the middle of the mountains, and therefore a bit scary. AnAn couldn't see into the dark night around them, past the Resort area, but she knew they were surrounded by mountains and forest.

She parked in a stall near the front doors and turned off the car. Then she leaned her seat back and closed her eyes. What if the Resort was full? She should have called ahead and booked a room. But then again, judging by the amount of cars in the parking lot, there was probably lots of room.

Taeyong stirred in his seat, then opened his eyes and took a moment to orient himself.

"We are here?" he asked.

"Yep," AnAn replied.

She heard the passenger side door open and the smell of fresh mountain air filled the small car. AnAn shivered but smiled all the same. The pine tree scent transported her back to her childhood. She used to go camping and hiking in the summer with her mom. The fresh mountain air made her feel like she was really awake, after months of hibernation. I also always increased her appetite immensely. Her mom used to say that the air in the mountains made you healthy and AnAn was sure she was right. When had they stopped going camping together? When she was twelve?

Taeyong was already getting their backpacks from the trunk. AnAn sat up slowly, her muscles aching from driving for over five hours. But when she stepped out into the refreshing breeze her energy returned, and so did her hunger.

"I'm so hungry!" she announced, stretching and taking a deep breath of the sweet smelling air.

"Me too," Taeyong said. He had one backpack on each shoulder and a smile on his face. She wondered if he'd gone camping or to the mountains as a kid, in Korea, or if this was a new experience for him. Being here felt like entering into another world, even for AnAn.

She headed for the doors and only now noticed the Christmas lights around the lobby entrance. There were more inside, which glistened through the glass doors.

"There's got to be a restaurant inside," she said to Taeyong, grabbing her purse from the car.

Inside, a huge stuffed bear towered over them at the front lobby. Taeyong instantly gravitated towards it and got out his phone for more photos. AnAn laughed.

"Wait, let's do a selfie with the bear," she said, rushing over.

Taeyong held out his phone and put a bear-ears filter on. They did a cheesy smile and he took the picture.

"Omgosh that's adorable," AnAn said, taking Taeyong's phone to have a better look. She suddenly realized she was being rude. "Sorry, can I see your phone?"

Taeyong nodded and AnAn added the words, "Momma Bear, Papa Bear and Baby bear" to the image, drawing arrows to herself, Taeyong and the large bear behind them. The large bear was 'Baby Bear.'

"Can you send this to me?" she asked Taeyong. She wanted to send it to Jerry with a message that read, 'do you know where your porridge is?'

Around the corner from the large bear was a beautiful sitting area with an impressive fireplace and the largest Christmas tree AnAn had ever seen inside of a building. It reached to the high ceiling, which went up two levels, and was a real tree. She imagined they had cut it down from the forest that surrounding the Lodge. It had colourful light strung all around and AnAn was filled with the anticipation of Christmas time. 

She glanced around the sitting room. It was decorated with holly and big, bright red poinsettias. Lavish couches were set around the room, and the far wall was made of glass, showing the nighttime beyond, which was lit up with tiny blue lights strung around the outdoor Resort area and the walkways that led to the hot pools.

Taeyong stood beside her in stunned silence. He seemed so in awe of the beauty that he didn't even take photos.

"Is this very expensive?" he asked, after a moment.

AnAn shook her head. "Not really. I don't think. We should double check."

They went to talk to the front desk and the young girl there spoke with a strong Australian accent, which AnAn loved.

"We've only got one room left. It has a King sized bed," she told AnAn. "Will that be okay?" 

AnAn hesitated. One bed? But the lobby and sitting area were so quiet that it was a wonder there was anyone staying at the Resort at all. 

"There are no other rooms?"

"They've been booked up by the hockey teams that came in on those tour busses outside."

"Hockey teams?"

The girl smiled. "Yes, they come here once a year for a weekend after their tournaments and take over the pools. But don't worry, they're all at the big public pools down the hill. the Resort pool is pretty quiet, if you wanted some privacy." She glanced at Taeyong and AnAn was certain she blushed.

"How long are the hockey teams here for?"

"They're leaving tomorrow and then we'll have lots of rooms available, if you'd like to switch to a different room, with two beds after tonight." She looked between AnAn and Taeyong, as though trying to figure something out. Taeyong was still looking around and not paying attention.

"Yes, we'll do that," AnAn said. She filled out the paperwork, writing down her licence plate number and the other things she had to sign, then gave the Australian girl her credit card.

"Here is the wifi password," she said, handing over the hotel room cards. "And we recommend you don't drink the tap water, because of the runoff from the melted snow lately, there is a risk of Beaver Fever. There are complementary water bottles in your room, and you can stop by the front desk any time to get more bottles during your stay."

"Thank you," AnAn took the room keys. 

Taeyong leaned in and whispered to her. "Justin Bieber is staying at the hotel?"

AnAn giggled they walked off together.

"Is he?" Taeyong asked, but the more he asked the more AnAn laughed. Finally, she told him Justin Bieber was not staying at the hotel and glanced down at their room cards.

"Room 384," she said, doing a turnabout at the bottom of a set of stairs. A stairway led up to another level, decorated with boughs of holly along the banisters and twinkly lights wrapped around them. The level they were on continued down a hallway, under the stairs, and AnAn noticed a sign set up not too far off that had the daily food specials written on it with chalk. So the restaurant was on this level too.

"Let's eat first," she said, and Taeyong agreed.

The restaurant had an even more impressive view of the outdoors. From there they could see the private hot pool below, surrounded by trees decorated with blue lights and pathways which led to individual cabins near the public hot pools. Everything was covered in a layer of snow, like a winter wonderland. The lounge patio out back was closed for the season, but AnAn wished they could have sat outside.

"This is... not real," Taeyong said, once they'd settled on some couches in the lounge. There was another, more lavish restaurant next door but its large double doors were closed for the day, even though it wasn't that late yet. Maybe they just did the breakfast and lunch menu. 

The supper menu in the lounge didn't look too pricey, fortunately. AnAn ordered a smoked salmon and avocado salad and Taeyong got the fish and chips.

They ate in a quiet comradery, one which didn't require talking. AnAn never felt awkward in their silences, like she would have with anyone else. English wasn't Taeyong's first language so it was fine that he didn't say all that much. 

The overhead television sets were on and AnAn watched the Building Families Bachelorette Show as she ate, thinking about how quickly things had changed in her life. Not that long ago, she'd made fun of these shows and the girls who were so invested in picking a Match, and all the drama that went into picking one. Choosing a Match wasn't an option with Arranged Marriages, but the television show gave one girl seven Matches, all of whom she got to know over the period of the show airing, then she had to pick one.

AnAn suddenly realized she never did believe she'd have a Match, even if it was the law. She just didn't think it would be something that she could do. Having Jerry as a best friend and even sharing an apartment with him wasn't the same as having a lifetime Match. He went his own way and did his own thing, and she did the same. They'd never truly been a couple. But with Taeyong, everything was intense. They were becoming friends. And even though he hadn't even kissed her yet, it didn't matter, they were a couple for life. They were in this together, whatever 'this' was.

"Do you want to swim?" Taeyong asked, bringing AnAn out of her thoughts. She groaned and lay her head back against the couch. "No, can we just go to bed?" she said. She was too full and too tired for swimming.

He nodded, but didn't look at her. AnAn sat up. She wondered if there was something that was bothering him. Maybe it was just the stress of the reporters searching for them back in Lowbridge. If they hadn't decided to move into their new house right away, the reporters may have come across Taeyong at AnAn's apartment. It had been a close call.

Taeyong got up and AnAn followed him. Just as they were leaving, a group of rowdy young jocks came barreling into the lounge. AnAn tried to get out of their way. It was the hockey players. 

The contrast between them and Taeyong was striking. They didn't even notice the two of them as they pushed each other towards the couches, towering over AnAn and completely oblivious to anything but their own roughhousing.

Seeing the sporty jocks made AnAn realize how lucky she was in getting Taeyong as a match. He was so much better suited for her. She still couldn't believe her luck, although her Arrangement was quite unconventional, and apparently not even in the public records, it was still hers and the way everything had turned out suited her well, despite the complications of it.

They got out of the lounge restaurant just in time. Within a minute it was filled with loud hockey players, and their shouts and hollers which echoed through the hallways. AnAn and Taeyong found their way to their room in silence. It was on the same floor as the restaurant, even though the room number indicated it would be on a third level. Unless there were levels beneath the main floor and it was technically the third level.

AnAn wanted to go explore the place, but it would have to wait. She'd seen a sign for a spa, and a display case with swimsuits and clothes advertising a gift shop, which was in a separate building. She wanted to buy a swimsuit because she hadn't brought one with her. At the moment she was too tired, though. It was still early evening, but the drive had zapped her of all her energy. All she wanted was to lay down.

When they stepped into the hotel room AnAn froze.

There was only one bed.

Taeyong continued on into the room, but AnAn grasped her backpack straps tight, her knees feeling a bit weak.


	20. Chapter Twenty

Of course, the girl at the front desk had mentioned that there was only one room left at the Resort for tonight, with one King sized bed, but the reality of it was only now sinking into AnAn's brain. She couldn't sleep on the floor. And she would never ask Taeyong to either. He didn't seem concerned about it and was already rummaging through his backpack and setting clothes into one of the dressers.

AnAn took a deep breath. It would be okay. The bed was big and they could keep to their own sides. She took her shoes off and set her bag down beside the bed. Then she took a seat in one of the lounge chairs, too tired to keep standing but not wanting to jump into the bed right away.

Taeyong kept busy, taking his toothbrush and various small bottles into the bathroom, then untucking the blanket around the bed, as though to prepare it for them. AnAn watched him through hazy eyes. He was beautiful. Wasn't he tired? She supposed he had slept on the way up.

Once his preparations were all done he went into the bathroom again and AnAn heard the shower running. She fell in and out of sleep on the chair, then finally got herself up and into the bed, laying down on it fully clothed. She was trying to flatten a pillow for her head when Taeyong came out of the washroom, wearing only a towel.

Her tiredness was instantly gone.

Taeyong ran his hands through his wet hair, keeping his eyes averted, standing in the light of the bathroom door behind him. The white light from the washroom was brighter than the lamps in the bedroom and made him glow, like he was an angel.

AnAn didn't move. She was waiting for him to grab some clothes from the dresser and return to the washroom, and get changed, but he didn't move either.

She swallowed hard, unable to look away.

"Will you shower, too?" Taeyong asked, after a moment.

AnAn hadn't planned on showering. She was just going to sleep in all her clothes. It was what she did when they'd gone camping. Although, this wasn't exactly camping. She would have slept in her shoes and jacket too, with how tired she was when they got to the room. But now she was wide awake. 

AnAn quickly got out of the bed. Of course, if they were going to share a bed she should be clean. Taeyong's culture was more clean than the rough, Canadian culture. He probably thought she had dirtied the bed sheets, by climbing in fully clothed.

"Uh... Sorry. Yes. Of course. I'll..." her gaze traveled down to Taeyong's towel. Was he waiting for her to go into the bathroom, so he could get dressed. "Yes. I'll go shower now."

She ran into the washroom so fast she forgot to get her pajama bottoms and a tank top along the way. But she couldn't go back into the room after she'd closed the bathroom door. What if Taeyong was changing? She'd just shower quickly and wrap a towel around herself. Then grab her clothes when she came out.

The water was heavenly. It fell like a light rain coming from the shower head. AnAn used far too much shampoo, forgetting again that her hair was short now and didn't need it. After her shower, her tiredness returned and felt oddly giddy. The image of Taeyong in just a towel was now engraved in her brain and it was all she could think about. How did she end up here? She never went more than 12 hours without watching her K-Dramas. But now her life was more interesting than any of them.

It was a good thing she'd decided to leave Lowbridge when she did. If any of the reporters had found their new home, they would have gone nuts with paparazzi photos of Taeyong at home... coming out of the washroom in just a towel.

Suddenly it was too hot in the bathroom. The overhead fan was on, but it was still too hot. AnAn was overheating. She had to stop thinking about Taeyong shirtless.

She towel dried her hair and left it uncombed, sticking up in all directions. The wild look had its own charm. At least she tried to convince herself that since she didn't have her hair brush at the moment. Tomorrow she would ask at the spa if they did haircuts.

When AnAn stepped out of the washroom in her towel she gasped in surprised at the sight of Taeyong.

He was on the bed, leaning on one elbow and wearing only a pair of snug, red and grey striped boxer briefs. AnAn's eyes went wide. She was too stunned to look away, or to do anything else for that matter. Is this how he was going to sleep? 

How in the world would she get any sleep tonight? And why wasn't he under the covers? Not that she was complaining, but she had the sense that he was shy, so it seemed out of character for him to be so casual.

When she didn't move he got out of the bed and came over to her. She felt dizzy for a moment but willed herself to not collapse. Don't you dare go into panic mode, she told herself. She had to be fully alert at the moment, although she couldn't seem to move and just stood there, frozen and at Taeyong's mercy.

He had a serious expression on his face, and he wasn't looking her in the eyes as he came close. Somewhere in the back of her mind, AnAn had the feeling that something was off.

Taeyong set his hand on her towel, at the front, where she'd tucked one edge in between her breasts. Her heart pounded in her ears. He was going to take her towel off. She'd pouted about missing out on her wedding night only a couple of days ago, but now she wasn't sure she could go through with it. Not because Taeyong wasn't absolutely amazing, but because she was just plain and unimpressive. Her legs weren't freshly shaved and her belly was round and not flat. She should have exercised, like the Building Families pamphlet had suggested. She should have started preparing years ago, like it had said.

Taeyong's hand felt heavy on her towel, warming against her chest, yet he still didn't make eye-contact with her.

"Taeyong?" AnAn said softly, knowing for sure now that something was wrong.

He gripped the knot in the towel and swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I am... nervous."

AnAn frowned. "But we don't have to do anything," she said, a bit confused.

He looked at her then, his eyes studying hers with a questioning look. AnAn couldn't breathe.

"You said, we will sleep together. We will go to bed."

AnAn tried to answer but the words weren't forming properly in her brain. He thought she meant she wanted to have sex tonight?

He let his hand drop from her towel and his shoulders slumped. "Please don't tell."

"Tell?"

"The reporters. Don't tell them I am here. My friends will have a lot of trouble, in Korea, if the media find me."

"The media? Of course I won't tell them where you are. Why do you think I would tell them?"

"You said," he took a breath and sighed. "You said, 'I won't tell if you sleep with me'."

"What?" AnAn stepped back, mortified. "What do you mean? When did I say that?" Did Taeyong think she'd promised to keep his secret, if he promised to sleep with her?

"When the snow storm and at the office. You said, I won't tell, if you are with me."

"No..." What had she said when they'd been snowed in? But she was having a panic attack and had gone into shock. Then fell asleep from sheer exhaustion. Had she been mumbling in her sleep? "You misunderstood," she said now, waving her hands in front of her. Tears of embarrassment rushed to her eyes.

Taeyong's expression changed suddenly and he looked concerned. "Oh?"

AnAn shook her head. "I would never make you do that. I just meant, stay with me, like as friends. But even that. You don't even have to do that. I was... I wasn't thinking clearly when I said it. I do like you, but it is totally your choice, to stay with me. Oh my gosh." AnAn took a breath. "I want to help you hide from the media, I want to help you in any way I can, but I wouldn't keep you from leaving if... I'm not bribing you...I. You don't have to stay with me."

AnAn clutched her towel against her chest, the embarrassment washing over her in waves. She had to get out of here, she couldn't look at Taeyong. Since the snow storm until now, he had thought she was keeping him prisoner, wanting to use him in exchange for not exposing him to the media. It was all too much.

She grabbed a heavy white robe from out of the closet near the door, and left.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

AnAn quickly put the heavy robe on. The hallway was empty but she was still terrified someone would walk around the corner and see her in a towel. Taeyong didn't come out after her so she hurried down the carpeted hallway towards the front lobby. 

When she'd come this way earlier, in search of their room, there were people walking around in the same robes she had on, so she'd be okay walking around, as though she'd just come from one of the pools. Although, having nothing on underneath made it a lot more awkward. Thankfully there weren't many people around.

"Hello again," AnAn said to the blond Australian girl at the front desk.

The girl smiled amiably at AnAn. "How can I help?"

"I just wanted to double check. Are you sure there aren't any other rooms available for tonight? Any at all?"

The girl's smile faded and she turned back to her computer. "There is one cabin available but it is over $300 a night."

AnAn sighed. She couldn't afford to spend money that illogically, not if they were staying at least a week.

"Is everything alright with your room?" the girl asked.

"Yes, it's..." All of a sudden the tears AnAn had been holding back poured forth and she started crying.

"Oh dear," the girl said. "What happened?"

\--------------

"Anne, you're a beautiful girl with a healthy figure," the Australian girl, who said her name was Chloe, reassured AnAn. But her words only made AnAn cry more.

They sat on a couch near the fireplace in the sitting area, away from the front desk and in front of the festive Christmas tree.

"I'm not beautiful," AnAn mumbled into her robe sleeves. "My hair is awful. It's short and ugly now."

Chloe squeezed her shoulders. "Nonsense. It's very cute. And I'm not just saying that. You look like an adorable anime character, you know, one of those ones that are fighters so their hair is all cool and crazy."

"I can't even look at him," AnAn said, unable to receive any of the complements Chloe was trying to give her. "He thinks I'm the scum of the earth."

Chloe laughed. "You're overreacting to all this."

AnAn looked up. "Do you think I am?"

"Absolutely. The poor boy is from a different culture. He just misunderstood-"

"He thinks I'm a monster."

Chloe shook her head. "He's very attractive. I imagine a lot of girls back home also wanted his attention and affection when he lived there."

AnAn nodded, she couldn't even imagine how much attention Taeyong got as a Kpop Idol, before he came here.

"That's probably what he is used to," Chloe continued. "Maybe bribing young, attractive men for sexual favours is something that commonly happens in his country. They do have Flower Boy Cafes."

"What's that?"

"Beautiful boys serving you coffee and flirting with you."

AnAn became silent. Attractive Korean guys serving you coffee and flirting with you? Could such a thing really exist? 

"Don't worry," Chloe continued. "Just tell him you would never tell his parents his secret, whatever it is, no matter what."

AnAn hadn't told Chloe the true details of what was going on, but an altered version. "It's just too embarrassing." She buried her face in her sleeves again. "I can't believe he thought I was asking him for sexual favours."

"I really don't think he was as appalled as you believe he was." Chloe said. "Even if he thought you wanted sex in return for keeping a secret, it doesn't mean he was completely opposed to the idea. What did he say, when he was about to take your towel off?"

"He said," AnAn dropped her hands from her face. "He said... I am nervous."

"You see. He was just nervous. How do you know he didn't want to... you know, go through with it?" Chloe winked and AnAn groaned. She closed her eyes and leaned back against the couch with a sigh. It was getting late, but she didn't want to go back to the room, ever. She couldn't.

"You can't just leave him wondering what happened to you."

"You're right." AnAn sat up. "I'll have to face him eventually. And I guess you should probably get back to the front desk, too, before you get fired." She smiled at Chloe, wishing she had half the confidence Chloe had.

"If it makes you feel any better," Chloe said, getting up. "I gave one of the guys from the hockey team a discount for their room, in exchange for him showing me some of his moves." She wiggled her eyebrows and AnAn laughed out loud.

"You're just saying that."

"Am I?" Chloe winked and walked back towards the front desk. "Come on, I'll make you another room key, so you can get back in."

AnAn followed her. Chloe was right. She was being ridiculous. Poor Taeyong had misunderstood her and yet he had still treated her so nicely this whole time. He even bought her a stuffie at the Interpretive Centre. And now she'd run away and left him alone in a resort in the middle of nowhere. For all he knew, she could have run off and taken the car, his only transportation, and abandoned him here. Hopefully he didn't think that. She had to quit thinking only of her own pride and help Taeyong. He was in an unfamiliar country, with media searching for him and, what had he said, 'his friends' safety was in jeopardy, if he was to be discovered'?

AnAn got the extra key from Chloe and headed back to the room.

When she got there she was about to knock, then stopped. Would her knock startle Taeyong? What if he was sleeping? Or worse, what if he was scared of who might be at the door and not answer it?

She looked down at the key card Chloe had given her.

It was time to face the embarrassment.

She opened the door quietly, in case Taeyong was sleeping, and peeked inside. The room was dark, lit only by a small desk lamp.

She closed the door gently behind her and stepped in further. Both beds were empty.

AnAn sighed in relief. Taeyong's backpack was still there. He'd probably just gone for a walk to clear his head. She wasn't ready to face him yet anyway.

She just wanted to pretend the whole thing hadn't happened. And if Taeyong didn't actually want to be with her, in any way, she would still cover for him, as long as she could. If anyone asked where her husband was, she'd say he was at the post office, or the bank. Or away on a business trip. She could always just say he's "up north." That's what all the forsaken Arranged wives said in Lowbridge. All the Lowbridge men seemed to be working 'up north' on the 'rigs.'

AnAn got into her pajama bottoms and a tank top, then crawled under the covers. She didn't want to take over the bed, but the chair was too uncomfortable and she would just climb out of the bed when Taeyong came back. She'd let him take it. He was the one who needed it most. He probably still had jet lag. The thought made AnAn sad.

She grabbed her cell phone and looked at the messages under the blankets. Her mom was asking her how the drive went and if she'd arrived safe. And Rose was wondering if everything was okay, without revealing too much over texting. There were no messages from Taeyong, only the photo they'd taken with the bear at the front lobby, which AnAn had sent to herself from his phone. She couldn't look at it. Even at that time he'd been thinking she demanded his affections in exchange for her silence. And yet, he hadn't been a jerk about it. 

She closed her messages and opened her Kocowa App instead, where she liked to watch her K-Dramas. She would continue watching the one called "Pinocchio." It had started off a bit strange but was getting more and more interesting as it went along. She needed the distraction. The embarrassment of earlier was still too fresh and the hurt of being accused of bribing Taeyong for sexual favours was still too raw. She had to get her mind off of it. 

She turned up the volume on her phone and let herself enter into the world of Korean TV reporters and solving crime cases.


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

AnAn woke to the sound of children yelling outside. She opened her eyes and looked around. Where was she? Light from outside flooded into the hotel room from the windows. A large painting of an old log cabin in the woods triggered AnAn's memories. They were at the Fairmont Hot Springs. 

Where was Taeyong? Had he not returned last night?

AnAn sat up in a panic.

His backpack was still sitting on the chair nearest the windows. Her shoulders relaxed. The clock on the night stand said it was 9AM. She'd fallen asleep. But where was Taeyong?

AnAn kicked the covers away and quickly put on her shoes, not bothering to change out of her pajamas. Her car keys were still on the counter, so Taeyong hadn't driven off with the car or anything like that. He had to still be on the premises. Hopefully.

She threw the hotel room door open with a loud bang, then remembered the key cards just in time. Three cards sat on the counter; hers, the spare one Chloe had made her, and Teayong's. He hadn't taken a key with him either. Or maybe he'd forgotten, the same way she had when she'd run out last night. She grabbed all three, then headed out.

The halls were noisy with the loud conversation of some of the hockey players, making their way down to the restaurant for breakfast. AnAn pushed past them and went to the front desk. Chloe was no longer there.

"Excuse me," she said to the short, red haired man at the desk. "Did my... husband leave?"

"Leave?" He raised eyebrow. "And who might your husband be?"

"Is... Chloe here this morning?"

"No. She only works on the weekends."

Was the weekend over?

"Oh." AnAn set her room key cards on the desk. "We're in room 384 and would like to switch to a two bed... accommodations, please."

The man gave her a curious look but didn't ask any questions.

AnAn confirmed the details of the room change, then walked around the large bear to follow the sign that said 'spa.' If the spa was in the resort, she'd inquire about a haircut. 

There were stairs heading downward and the sign above them said 'pool.' She found the entrance to the spa, next to the stairs, but stopped when she spotted Taeyong, sleeping on one of the couches near the back of the sitting area. He was hidden behind the large Christmas tree at the center of the room. He wore Terrance's plaid shirt again and was hugging the large moose stuffie from the Frank Slide Interpretive Center. His eyes fluttered open, as though he could feel her looking at him. AnAn panicked, and ran.

"AnAn?" Taeyong called after her.

He was faster than her and caught up to her when she got blocked by a group of jocks heading into the restaurant.

Taeyong grabbed AnAn's wrist and she squealed in surprise.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I misunderstood. AnAn-"

He was interrupted by one of the hockey players before he could finish what he was about to say.

"Is this guy giving you trouble?" a tall, blonde hockey player said with a slight southern drawl. He walked over, squaring his shoulders and towering over Taeyong. 

Taeyong quickly let go of AnAn's wrist. 

"Do you want us to rough this guy up for you?" another guy said.

"No!" AnAn stepped in front of Taeyong, even though she was shorter than him. "He's... my brother."

The hockey players exchanged glances.

"I mean," AnAn continued. "I'm adopted so..." She cringed inwardly.

Taeyong didn't say anything and the guys backed off.

"Come down to the pool later," one of the smaller guys said. The others laughed and teased him as they continued on into the restaurant.

AnAn turned to Taeyong and he handed her the moose stuffie.

"It's okay," she said. "You can have it."

"I buy it, for you," he said.

AnAn took it, still not able to make eye-contact with him. Her heart raced, from the jocks interfering and from being this close to Taeyong. Each morning she saw him again it was like seeing him for the first time. And she still felt awkward about their misunderstanding the previous night, and didn't know how to deal with it.

"We need to move to another room this morning," she said, taking out one of the new room keys from her pocket. She handed it to Taeyong. "I got us an Economy Room with two twin beds. It's actually cheaper than..." she was about to say, 'than the room with the King sized bed,' but stopped.

Taeyong took the key and put it in his pocket. His black hair hung into his eyes, making him look like a Korean Drama star. 

He was a Korean star, a K-Pop Idol that millions of fans would kill to talk to.

They stood in an awkward silence for a moment, then Taeyong spoke. 

"AnAn, do you want us to become separated?"

AnAn's stomach dropped. She swallowed hard. She didn't want that. But she also couldn't be selfish. "Do you want us to be?" She said, then continued before he could answer. "You don't have to stay with me, or do anything you don't want to-"

"I want to," Taeyong said.

"Want to... what?" AnAn asked. Wanted to be separated? Please don't let him be saying that, AnAn pleaded silently. She reached up and smoothed down her unruly hair, suddenly self conscious of herself; the fuzzy pajama bottoms and her lack of make-up, which she never wore anyway, but which she could have worn to make herself look better.

"I want to, be here," Taeyong said. "I'm sorry, AnAn."

"Don't be sorry," AnAn replied, even though she appreciated him apologizing for thinking she would bribe him. "I'm sorry too." She finally looked at Taeyong's eyes and he smiled. It was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud. She returned his smile. She understood now. He was okay with their Arranged Marriage, but just not interested in the physical aspects. And she was fine with that.

"Friends?" she said, offering her hand in a handshake.

Taeyong's smile widened. "Of course."

He took her hand in his and suddenly AnAn's heart ached at his touch. 

She was not fine. 

How could she ever be fine, being this close, and just being friends?


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

"Look, AnAn!" Taeyong pointed out the window as a squirrel jumped from one branch to another. They were sitting in the restaurant with the nice chandelier and the large painting on the wall. Their table was right beside the windows overlooking the resort area. The squirrel outside had a massive, fuzzy tail which was larger than its entire body. It ran down the tree branch closest to Taeyong and looked inside the window, twitching its big tail.

Taeyong smiled. "I love that chipmunk."

AnAn didn't have the heart to correct him. She was pretty sure it was a black squirrel. But it didn't matter. His enthusiasm for even the smallest things warmed her. 

The squirrel ran off suddenly and Taeyong raised his eyebrows at AnAn. "Did you see him? He run here to say hi, to me."

AnAn smiled. "Yes. He recognizes you from your band."

Taeyong's smile widened. "Then we will eat fast and will go catch the chipmunk, because he will tell the media I am here."

AnAn choked on her turkey bacon in laughter, which only made Taeyong laugh too.

"We need to return him to the zoo," AnAn said, teasing.

Taeyong narrowed his eyes at her, picking up on her teasing.

"Sorry," she laughed. "But it was so funny when you saw that deer."

"And it is so funny- it was so funny when you... saw Jerry and no clothes."

AnAn threw a piece of toast at him, which he caught easily and ate. He was picking up on her use of past-tense when they talked and was starting to use it too.

"Taeyong," she said.

"Mmm?" he replied. His hummed reply for 'yes' made her think of the K-Dramas she watched and she felt nervous all over again, reminded that she was having breakfast with a K-Idol celebrity.

"Will you teach me some Korean?" she asked.

Taeyong tilted his head to one side, assessing her. Was he trying to decide if she was smart enough for him to bother teaching her?

"Arasso," Taeyong said, winking at her. AnAn knew that word.

"Gamawa," she replied, hoping she was saying it right, she didn't know how the words were technically spelled, only how they sounded. But after that wink, she could hardly focus on speaking, let alone trying to use another language.

"Ghoh-mah-wa," Taeyong said, correcting her pronunciation.

"Anyo!" AnAn said back. It was the only other word she knew in Korean, which simply meant 'no.' Then they both laughed.

\-----------

Their new hotel room was smaller than the other one, but it had two beds. AnAn reclaimed her moose stuffie and placed it on her bed, the one closest to the door. She always picked the bed closest to the door when she stayed in hotel rooms. Taeyong set his few clothes neatly in the drawers again and began to untuck the blanket and sheets on his bed, the way he had in the first room.

"Are you going to sleep now?" AnAn asked. "You must be so tired." She felt bad that he'd slept out in the lobby all night.

"I'm okay," Taeyong smiled. "I sleep on the couch and was fine. I slept, on the couch. Not sleep. Is that right?."

AnAn nodded and Taeyong gave her a salute, then continued untucking his bed. "We can go swimming today?" He seemed more relaxed now. He'd put their incident behind them. But AnAn was still on edge. Maybe he no longer felt the pressure to please her, in more ways than one, which was good, but she was still unsettled. She didn't know what he wanted. Despite Chloe's reassurance, AnAn still wasn't convinced he was interested in a marriage with full benefits. But if he wasn't, then that was fine. She didn't need that. This is what she'd wanted anyway, what she'd planned to do with Jerry. She'd always been apposed to the whole Arranged Marriage thing. So this was perfect, for her. Right?

Suddenly the memory of Taeyong in his boxer briefs came to her thoughts again and she shook her head. No, they were just friends. He just wanted to be friends.

"Come on, AnAn," he said, with an adorable smile. "We need to buy a swimsuit!"

\-----

The change rooms at the Gift Shop had no mirrors on the inside of the changing stall. AnAn looked down at the bikini she had on. It wasn't too immodest, but it was still a bikini and didn't leave much to the imagination; a bright red bikini with white polka dots. There was a bow tied at the front, between her breasts, and two bows on the sides of her hips.

She couldn't tell how it looked on her without a mirror, but the bikini itself was super cute.

AnAn peeked out from behind the curtain and looked around. The swimsuit section in front of the change rooms was clear; no jocks and no Taeyong. He was supposed to be shopping for a pair of swim trunks, but he'd gotten distracted by the shiny rocks again, at the other side of the store.

AnAn stepped out carefully. She shivered, despite there being no temperature change from inside the change room, to outside of it. She just felt more exposed. The mirror was at the end of the row of stalls.

She blinked at her reflection in the mirror. From straight on she looked great, with curves in all the right places. And her legs were nicely shaped. They were her favourite part of her body. But from the side her belly stuck out, above the waistline of the low riding bikini bottoms. Her breasts also stuck out, from the cold air in the gift shop. Over all, it was the best bikini she'd ever tried on, but she didn't know if she had the courage to wear it at the pool. And in front of Taeyong?

Her gaze traveled to over her shoulder in the mirror, where she could see someone standing at the clothes rack behind her. It was Taeyong. He seemed frozen in the middle of taking something off the rack, or putting it back onto it. He was looking at her in the mirror. His eyes travelled over her and stopped at her breasts. She couldn't read his expression, which seemed neutral but it was hard to tell with him. He looked up and their eyes met.

AnAn ran back into the change room, her heart racing. She definitely wouldn't wear this bikini swimming. She wiggled out of it and put her blouse and jeans back on. She would get one of those full swimsuits, that middle aged women wore, with the skirt at the bottom.

She had to buy some clothes too, even if they said "Fairmont Hot Springs" across the front, it didn't matter. She didn't go back to the apartment to pack before this trip so she had no extra clothes. There weren't any supermarkets to shop at around here. The Gift Shop clothes would have to do for now, until they decided where they would go next.

AnAn returned the bikini to the rack and went to the back of the store where the clothes were. She was surprised to find they weren't cheesy, gift store clothes, but nice clothes; long sweaters and skater-boy style pants, soft t-shirts and stylish hoodies. AnAn grabbed the clothes she liked off the racks. These would look great, which was a relief. But even with a new wardrobe, how long could they really stay here at this resort?

"Would you like to try some of those on?" A saleswoman cornered AnAn and she looked down at the pile of clothes in her hands.

"Maybe the pants," AnAn said, glancing around the store. Where was Taeyong? And why did she feel so protective of him all of a sudden? She didn't have to know where he was all the time. And yet she felt unsettled when she didn't. She'd try on some of the clothes then look for him.

Everything fit, which was a surprise because she was short and clothes never seemed to fit just right. But these were really nice clothes made of good material. AnAn hurried to the front desk with her pile, getting uneasy now that she still didn't see Taeyong anywhere. Her phone was back at the room. There was no range for cell service so she'd left it there. But she still should have brought it. There was wifi everywhere.

"I'll take them all," AnAn said to the lady at the front desk. She dug out her payment card. The display of colourful stones was near the front, but Taeyong wasn't there either.

"That will be $425.35."

"What!" AnAn turned her attention back to the sales lady.

"That's with the sale prices included," she said. Her voice was chipper but her glare was condescending.

"It's fine," AnAn said, abandoning the clothes. "I changed my mind."

She ran out of the gift shop. She had to find Taeyong.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

The fresh mountain air always took AnAn by surprise, each time she went outside. A layer of snow still clung to everything, even though the sun was high in the sky and shining so brightly that AnAn had to squint to look around. The sunlight reflected off the snow, glistening in millions of tiny sparkles. It was so pretty, but she couldn't enjoy the beauty, not when she didn't know where Taeyong was. She could go back to the hotel and get her phone. But there was no use. He didn't have any social media, that she knew of, and the cell service wasn't in range.

The pools were just down the hill, and there was another building between the pool entrance and the gift shop. AnAn hurried towards it. She was still in her blouse. The cold wasn't nearly as bitter here as it was in Lowbridge, surprisingly enough. The temperature was above zero at the moment so AnAn had left her heavy jacket back in the room. Now she regretted it.

The other building turned out to be a cafeteria place, with picnic tables out front, which were covered now in snow. The place was closed for the season. AnAn let out a sigh of frustration, her breathe puffing out in the air. Where was he? It was silly to worry. No one was going to swoop in and kidnap Taeyong. He could take care of himself.

She walked around to the pool entrance, which was outdoors. The attendant behind the glass ticket booth asked for her room number.

"Um.. 384," she said. Was that right?

"Last name?"

"Miller."

He waved her through and she hurried along, getting colder by the minute. At the end of a set of stairs were cubbies for shoes and a sign that said "no shoes beyond this point." 

AnAn backtracked to a fenced off grass area with lounge chairs all around, covered in snow. From there she was able to get closer to the fence that ran all around the pools. 

Steam came up off the water, making it hard to see who was in the pools. The hockey players were being loud and rowdy, getting the attention of the lifeguard. AnAn couldn't see the pool farthest back, but she remembered that one as the very cold pool, from the last time she came here as a kid. Taeyong wouldn't be in that one. He wasn't there.

A hockey player from the pool waved to her and she frowned. It was the young guy who had invited her to come down to the pool this morning, before breakfast. She quickly turned and walked away.

\-------------

AnAn cursed as she tried the hotel room key card for the tenth time. The little light kept going red instead of green. She'd have to get it re-magnetized at the front desk. Suddenly the door opened and Taeyong stood there, with a perplexed look on his face.

"Taeyong!" AnAn wanted to throw her arms around him in a big hug, but she didn't want to reward him for making her worry. "Where did you go?"

He was wearing new clothes, from the gift shop. They were from the skater boy selection, rather than the hipster stuff; black skinny jeans, a light grey t-shirt with a symbol on the front and a green zip-up hoodie that fit snug and had thick white drawstrings at the front. He had crocodile socks on his feet that looked like they were for kids. He looked really good, quite dramatic with his black hair.

"I couldn't find you," AnAn said. Taeyong stepped aside to allow her to come in.

"I didn't go-" he started to say but AnAn interrupted him.

"You didn't even tell me you were leaving."

"I didn't leave. You did- went leave-"

"Left."

"Left." Taeyong gave her a frustrated look. "You left, the gift store. You run away."

"Ran away," AnAn said. But she hadn't, he wasn't there. Or maybe he was and she had been the one to leave first. Why was she being so difficult with him at the moment and correcting his English? It was as though she was watching herself from the outside and couldn't stop all the awful words coming out of her mouth.

She noticed a pile of clothes on her bed and realized that Taeyong had bought all the items she'd left behind at the counter.

"You can't keep using that card, Taeyong!" she said a little too loudly. "What if they track us here?"

He didn't respond so she continued, "And you have to keep your cell phone with you!"

He pulled out his phone from his back pocket. "Always with me, AnAn. Where is your cell phone?" He put his cell phone back. "I call you. Called you. I called you, AnAn, when you leav-left the gift shop. You don't have your phone. I have my phone."

AnAn took in a staggering breath. He was right. She was a jerk. But the last half hour had been terrible, not knowing where he was. What if the police came and took him away? What if the news media found him? She didn't even know why he was running and what kind of danger he was in, but it terrified her. She couldn't live without him. AnAn's breath caught at her unexpected thought. What was wrong with her?

"AnAn?" Taeyong said, his angry expression replaced now with one of concern.

"I'm fine," she said, grabbing her cell phone from the desk nearby. "I'm going to the sitting area at the front."

"Do you want for me to come too?" he said. "Then you will know where I am."

AnAn shook her head no, then left.


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

Christmas music played in the seating area, around the corner from the front lobby, softening AnAn's heart. All she wanted to do was run back to Taeyong and apologize and hold him tight. But would he want that? That's what a crazy fan would do. And now she was even more sensitive about showing affection towards him, in case he thought he was obligated to receive it against his will or reciprocate it because he had to.

-'There's Christmas Music playing.'   
AnAn typed the message to Rose. She'd just told Rose everything that had happened, with her freaking out about Taeyong using his credit card and her not being able to find him.

-'I'm at the front lobby now. It's so beautiful here,' she added, 'I wish you were here!'

-'I wish I was there too,' Rose replied.  
Seeing her messages coming in made AnAn feel better.

-'Are you avoiding Taeyong now?' Rose asked.

-'Maybe?' AnAn sighed. 'I've never felt like this before, it's so confusing.'

-'I've never seen you like this, even when you were in love with Riley.'  
AnAn laughed, remembering the middle school drama.

-'Have I turned into some boy crazy, horrible girl friend type?'

-'No. I just think you're in love.'

AnAn blinked at the phone screen, her stomach fluttering. She couldn't deny that ever since she'd met Taeyong her insides were constantly in a state of turmoil of nerves. But that didn't mean she was in love, did it?

-'I can't be in love with him,' AnAn typed in reply. 'I've only known him a few days.'

-'It sounds like a serious case of love sickness to me.'

A notification popped up on AnAn's phone. "WheresWaldo" has sent you a friend request.

It was a Facebook Friend request from someone she didn't recognize. The profile picture was an animated drawing of Where's Waldo, with his red and white toque and round glasses. The Facebook banner was one of those pages from a Where's Waldo book. Before AnAn could dismiss the friend request a message popped up. Who in the world was this? AnAn opened it.

-'Hi AnAn, it's me. I'm going to the hot pool. Please don't worry about me.'

AnAn's stomach fluttered in a new flurry of nerves. It was Taeyong, and he'd made a fake Facebook account just so that they could keep in contact. She accepted the friend request and responded to the message.

-'Thanks for letting me know :) '

Rose's message popped up before she could add anything else.

-'What are you going to do?'

-'About what?' AnAn asked.

-'How long are you going to stay there at the hot springs?'

-'I don't know'

-'I still think you should come home. Wouldn't it be more suspicious if you don't return to work as expected I mean, Lowbridge is the least touristy town in the world, maybe Taeyong will be okay here. You can't be on the run forever.'

-'Omgosh please don't use his name in messages!'

-'You're being paranoid lol, but okay, I won't. I forgot. Sorry :P Maybe Tyler will be fine here.'

-'Don't worry about me :) I'm okay. And we'll come back soon. How are you feeling? How did the ultrasound go?'

AnAn chatted with Rose for a while longer then relaxed back into the couch. She was hidden from the front doors by the large Christmas tree. The pretty decorations and festive music playing in the background lulled her in and out of sleep. Maybe Rose was right. She couldn't just disappear indefinitely. She didn't have the money for that anyway. And the thought of returning to work calmed her. They could settle into their new house and set up their own Christmas tree, and sit by the fireplace...

AnAn startled awake to the sound of laughter. Some of the jocks were returning from the pool with their white robes on, but hanging open in the front. The sun shone in through the windows, making AnAn feel groggy, like on a lazy summer afternoon. How long had she dozed off for? 

She got up, faintly aware that the lobby was full of activity now and people were coming to and from the hallways that led to the pools. AnAn rubbed her eyes. Taeyong was probably waiting for her at the pools. She had to hurry or he'd give up waiting and she'd miss her chance to swim with him.

She hurried to the hotel room to get her new swimsuit. It had been in the pile of clothes she'd abandoned at the gift shop, which Taeyong had bought for her anyway. The memory made her feel bad. He was probably excited to show her that he'd bought her stuff.

He wasn't in the room when she got there and one of the robes was missing from the closet. So he was still out, and at the pool. AnAn quickly undressed and put on the swimsuit she had picked out. It was black with large, pink and white flowers on it. Now that she saw it again, she realized it looked kind of Asian in a way. Maybe she'd picked it out subconsciously hoping Taeyong would like it. She didn't even try it on in the store but simply picked her size. Now, as she put it on, it felt a bit tight.

She studied her reflection in the mirror. Maybe it would loosen up in the water. The front had some kind of push-up bra sewn in, making her breasts look bigger than they actually were, and the skirt didn't cover her bottom, like she thought it would, but rather drew attention to it. She felt that nervous flutter in her stomach again. She wanted Taeyong to see her in the swimsuit. Normally she didn't want guys looking at her body, but with Taeyong it was completely different.

AnAn grabbed the robe in the closet and put it on, along with her boots, with no socks, just barefoot.

It wasn't until she got to the pool that she noticed she didn't have her phone. Her excitement of rushing to find Taeyong so he'd see her swimsuit had distracted her.

It was chilly outside, and although the robe was thick, it didn't protect her ankles and neck. She glanced back up the hill towards the Lodge. She was already in line at the pool entrance, with a crowd lining up behind her. Should she go back to the room? But she was shivering and hadn't seen Taeyong on the walk over, so he was likely still in the pool. She'd warm up in one of the hot pools, even for a little bit, before heading back with Taeyong. 

The idea of having two beds in the room made AnAn happy. There was no pressure and Taeyong would be comfortable. They could talk or watch TV. 

AnAn smiled, not noticing the line had moved up. An older lady gave her a bit of a shove and she went ahead. The admissions guy waved her through, not asking for her room number this time. She hurried through the revolving gates to the pool area.

The sky was getting darker now and the temperature dropping. She must have dozed off for longer than she realized. Panic began to rise up inside of her, but she pushed it down. She wasn't going to be a control freak or nagging girlfriend type of person. Taeyong was around here somewhere and she would find him eventually. She didn't need to know where he was at every second.

The change room doors were to the left of the stairs that led down to the pools but AnAn didn't bother going in. She removed her shoes at the bottom of the stairs and set them in one of the cubbies. The benches near the pools were covered in white robes so she threw hers on to one as well. 

The cold air assaulted her once the robe was off and the freezing floor hurt her feet. She bounced on her toes. The pool to the left was mostly empty and less steamy than the pool on the right, which had so much steam coming off the water that AnAn couldn't even see anyone in the pool, only hear them. The streetlamps high above lit the pools, reflecting off the steam in a fog-like effect. It was both romantic and eerie at the same time.

AnAn went to the hotter pool to the right, then yelped when her toes touched the hot water at the top stair. The water pinched her feet more than the cold floor.

"Pretty hot, eh?"

The voice came from somewhere in the steam and AnAn saw the young hockey player from before, who'd talked to her earlier at the Lodge. For a second she'd thought it was Taeyong but when he said 'eh' she knew it was a Canadian guy. He stood up from the water with a smile. He looked young but had lots of hair on his chest. AnAn ignored the stinging of the hot water and got into the pool all at once, sucking in a breath as a million goosebumps erupted on her skin. She didn't answer the guy who was trying to talk to her, but moved further into the pool, glad for the haze to disappear into.

People appeared and disappeared in the steam as she made her way around the hot pool. They were seated along the sides and around the island in the middle. There were a lot of elderly couples, speaking in low, smoker's cough voices. The young men from the hockey teams clustered together and were less rowdy here, subdued by the heat of the water. They eyed her curiously as she came into view, but she stayed clear of them. She wanted to call out Taeyong's name, but couldn't risk exposing him, even out here. His disappearance had made the news, so it wasn't just Kpop fans who might recognize his name, but anyone who paid close attention to the news lately.

She did a round of the large hot pool but didn't see Taeyong. He had to be gone by now. He wouldn't have stayed in this heat for that long. She hadn't thought of that. It was suffocating AnAn. They must have just missed each other. She should have gone back for her phone at least, even if she was cold. Taeyong was probably wondering where she was and why she wasn't answering her messages. Or maybe he was glad she wasn't following him around anymore. The thought sobered her.

She headed for the front steps again, but before she could get there the hockey player with the hairy chest intercepted her.

"You look lost," he said. His muscles and tattoos on his shoulder scared her. She tried to move past him but more guys emerged from the steam. They surrounded her. It was suddenly hard to breathe and the heat was too overwhelming. Where were the lifeguards? How did they even see anything in all this steam? Where was Taeyong?

"I'm not lost," AnAn said, trying to sound as confident as she could. If she backed down or tried to ignore them now, it would only invite more teasing. "I'm looking for my brother," she said. "Have any of you seen him?"

"The skinny Asian guy?" one of them asked.

The comment made AnAn mad. Heat rushed to her cheeks and her anxiety was quickly replaced with anger. She held back a smart remark and decided it wasn't worth her time.

"Excuse me," she said, pushing the younger boy to the side. He laughed and made a big display of falling into the water as his friends all heckled him.

"I saw him hiking," someone said from behind her.

AnAn stopped and turned around. "Where?"

"Down by the falls."

What falls? Where? AnAn didn't want to stick around to ask. She'd find out at the front desk in the Lodge.

"Thanks," she said, then hurried out of the pool. The cold air was refreshing this time and AnAn welcomed it. She grabbed her robe and got her boots, shoving her wet feet into them.

The sun hadn't fully set yet but it was getting dark fast. If Taeyong was out hiking in the forest, then she hoped he was heading back soon.

He wasn't back at the hotel and neither was her cell phone. She got changed into one of the new sweaters from the gift shop and put on her jeans again. From inside the hotel room it looked officially dark outside, making AnAn's anxiety rise. She took a few calming breaths before heading out again. Taeyong could take care of himself. She was just being over dramatic. No one knew they were out here, so he wouldn't get assaulted by fans or the media or taken away by police. She just had to find her phone and send him a message.


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

"Isn't there a lost and found?" AnAn insisted.

The man at the desk gave her an annoyed glare. "As I mentioned before," he said in a French accent, "we have a lost and found, and I have already checked it and your phone was not there."

"But you went to the back for like one second, are you sure you checked carefully?"

The man frowned at her and didn't respond. AnAn decided to drop it.

"Where is the hiking trail to the falls?" she asked instead, trying her best to keep her frustration from coming out in her tone.

"We don't recommend you go at this time, as it is getting dark-"

"I understand, but I'd still like to know where it is."

The man sighed then pulled out a sheet from behind the counter. It was a simplified map of the Resort area. He circled some things with a pen as he spoke.

"Here is where you are right now. These are the pools at the bottom of the hill. Between the Gift Shop here and the Pizza and Ice Cream Parlor you can walk between the buildings, there and this is where the bridge is. You cross the bridge and on the other side of the ravine are some steps, here." He circled another part of the map. AnAn swallowed hard. Bridges scared the crap out of her, and so did heights. "...which lead down to the river and there you can follow the river going in this direction." He drew an arrow. "Until you see the falls, which is water from the pools, and there is another falls, if you go down further-"

"Thanks," AnAn said, grabbing the map. She couldn't waste any more time.

Outside, the walkways and fences were lit up with blue faerie lights, making everything look magical. AnAn ran down the hill, past the Gift Shop, now closed for the day, and towards the pizza cafeteria place.

The area between the two buildings seemed abandoned and unsafe, like a back alley in a shady part of town. AnAn slowed her pace as she looked around the corner. The sky still clung to some dark reds and blues of the fading sunlight, left over from the sun setting, now far away on some other horizon. 

She could still see the mountains looming in the distance, full of the trees in the forests beyond. Down the incline between the buildings was the bridge. Behind her, the ruckus from the pools and festive lights of the Resort area faded away as she neared the bridge. It was longer than she had expected from the animated drawing on the map. AnAn approached it with caution. It was made of wood and was wide, with railings on either side. It seemed safe enough. 

AnAn stepped onto the bridge and looked down. It was very high up. She could still make out the river below, which was reflecting the lights from above, flowing over rocks and trunks. The rest of the trees and forest sat in darkness. Was Teayong down there?

AnAn went across the bridge on trembling legs. The other side had a campground area which was lit up by some street lamps, but the stairs to the river bottom were nowhere to be seen. She walked alongside a fence which hugged the treeline and protected hikers from slipping and falling down the drop to the river below.

When she found the steps, she couldn't bring herself to go down into the darkness below. It was almost black down there now, amidst the trees. They weren't really steps, but a path zigzagging its way down, with some wood planks here and there to help the descent.

AnAn shivered, blinking back tears.

"Taeyong?" she called out, but her voice sounded strangled and the sound got swallowed up in the moving branches of the trees. She called again, louder this time. There were only the sounds of the forest in reply, wood creaking and the tittering sounds of squirrels; movement in the bushes of animals or wind, she couldn't be sure. 

AnAn could hear the river and she thought she heard the waterfall too, far off. What if Taeyong had slipped on the wet rocks down there and fallen in?

The thought was too horrible. AnAn clutched the front of her jacket against her chest. She'd never felt this way about anyone before. If Jerry had been on this trip with her, and gone hiking, she wouldn't have cared. In fact, she would probably have hoped he did fall in to the river, to teach him a lesson for being careless. But with Taeyong, it was completely different. He was like a precious jewel that she wanted to protect.

AnAn swallowed hard. She had to at least try. She started heading down the cliff side into the darkness below. Her foot slipped on the wet wood and mud which made up the steps and she landed on her butt, scuffing up her palm. She couldn't see if it was bleeding or not, but it stung and her pants and hands were all muddy now. The noise of her fall startled some animals nearby, that AnAn hadn't noticed until now. Their eyes glowed in the light from the campground behind them. Deer. Or maybe mountain goats. She couldn't tell. She could only see their eyes and it was terrifying. They could charge her and toss her down the side of the cliff into the rocks below.

She scrambled up the slope, slipping again in her urgency to get away from the dark void behind her and the unseen waters far below, that she could only hear. Her fingernails grabbed dirt and her jeans got soaked with the snow and wet leaves on the forest floor. She imagined the animals behind her rushing after her in a terrifying silence like some horror movie.

When she finally got her footing she ran back to the bridge. This time she didn't approach it carefully, the way she always approached bridges, testing them first for any weakness before getting on, but she ran straight across, her boots banging on the wooden bottom. The lights of the Lodge shone up ahead and she ran towards them, her lungs burning with the cold air being forced into them. The temperature was dropping by the minute.

When she reached the Gift Shop, AnAn stopped, gasping for air and clutching her side. She looked up the incline which led to the top of the hill. She could walk around the outskirts of the Resort and then go back around to the parking lot, where they had first come in. It would be her last attempt at finding Taeyong, before heading back to the hotel room. And if he wasn't at the room, then what? Would she call the police? She couldn't, they already knew he was missing and were already looking for him.

She took out the map, folded in her back pocket. It was damp from her wet jeans but still fine. There was another hiking trail which led up to the Indian Bath House. It was a tourist attraction so perhaps Taeyong had gone that way too. If only she knew where her phone was.

She folded her map again and put it away. She'd walk up to the bath house, then return to the hotel room.

Across the road, at the top of the hill was another hill where AnAn could see the bath house, a century old rustic stone building silhouetted by the moon in the sky. But this hill was made of a light coloured sandstone, over which water trickled down from the bath house above, like a thousand little creeks running down at once. It looked very slippery. 

A flash of blue light from what had to be a cell phone caught AnAn's attention. It came from inside one of the bath house windows.

She ran up the slippery slope, looking for dry spots between the trickling water to catch a grip on. Her foot slipped a couple of times, landing her in the sandstone and getting the front of her jacket wet, but she kept going. The hill wasn't too big, but it still took quite a bit of effort to reach the top. Once there, AnAn found the path that led around to the front of the stone house, which was actually behind it. She could see the doorways, cut out of the stone, with no doors on them.

"Hello?" AnAn said. She went up to one of the doors to look in. Moonlight shone in just enough for her to see the baths, dug into the ground and overflowing with water, onto the floor and out the door. The site was like a scene from a horror movie. She almost expected to see a dead body lying in one of the tubs, or a ghost to appear from around a corner. AnAn shut her eyes tight, too afraid to move.

"AnAn?"

AnAn screamed, then recognized Taeyong's voice. 

"Taeyong!" she turned and he looked surprised, as though he thought she would yell at him. But she threw her arms around him instead, burying herself into his jacket. It was open at the front and she could feel his warmth. He smelled like the floral soap he'd bought at the Heritage Town gift shop. She could feel his heart beating.

"I'm sorry, I lost my cell phone," AnAn said into his shirt. She took in a shaky breath. She was going to cry and there was no stopping it. "And I'm sorry that you're sad and far away from home." Taeyong's arms tightened around her and then she did cry. "I'm sorry I laughed when you got scared of the deer," she cried. "They are scary. You're right. I've been acting like such a jerk. I'm sorry I made you nervous because you thought I was bribing you to keep from telling the media where you are, and that you had to sleep on a couch all night, and that I got mad at you for buying clothes for me when you were just trying to be nice, and that I'm just some average Canadian girl that you were forced to marry and I'm not the beautiful Korean girl that you deserve."

Taeyong tisked, his hand finding its way into AnAn's hair. "AnAn, please stop."

She squeezed him tight, not willing to let him go, but he pulled back.

"What happened?" He cupped her chin gently in his hands. His beautiful face glowed in the moonlight as his eyes assessed her. All she could do was stare at him. What happened? She was losing her mind over him, that's what happened.

"You have to listen," Taeyong said. His expression was so serious that AnAn didn't even breathe or blink as she listened. "I don't want you ever to get hurt because of me. I am away from friends and family because I don't want them to have any danger, because of me. I don't want you to be in danger, AnAn. You should be leaving me behind."

AnAn shook her head and he let go, turning away from her suddenly. 

He wiped at his eyes and she did the same.

"I'm not going to leave you behind," AnAn said softly. "I don't care if I might be unsafe. We're in this together."


	27. chapter Twenty-Seven (Heat Part One)

Taeyong chuckled then quickly covered his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I'm sorry," he said, looking apologetic.

"It's not funny!" AnAn teased.

Taeyong's expression became serious. "Of course. You are right. Not funny-"

AnAn laughed. "I'm just teasing. It is kind of funny that I tripped into every pile of snow and mud and puddle in the area, when I was searching for you." She flinched as Taeyong spread ointment on her palm where the scrapes were. She had washed it in the sink but he insisted on getting bandages and antibacterial cream from the front desk.

It was pitch dark outside of the hotel room windows now and they were safe and sound in the warm bed, sitting cross-legged and facing each other. Taeyong had gone to the Indian Bath House looking for AnAn, the same way she'd gone looking for him. When she hadn't answered any of his messages, he'd gotten worried she was hurt or lost.

Her heart fluttered now as he positioned her hand one way, then the other, securing the bandage. His fingers were gentle and precise as he carefully wrapped her hand. She considered his strong jawline and perfect skin. She could look at him freely this way, while he concentrated on her hand and she didn't have to worry about him noticing her staring.

"Does this feel, okay?" he asked her when he was done.

She lifted up her hand to inspect his handiwork. It looked cool, like her hand was bandaged up for a boxing fight.

"It's perfect," she said. Her stomach was still full of butterflies from Taeyong tending to her wound. But she was trying her best not to dwell on how turned on he made her feel. He was sitting close to her and it was driving her hormones crazy. She had to think of something else, before she couldn't resist any longer and jumped on him right then and there. 

AnAn sat up straighter, arching her back a bit. She was wearing her tank top now and pajama bottoms. Her jeans were ruined from the mud, but the new sweater had been spared any damage. She had kept her bra on, which gave better cleavage in her tank top than not wearing one. Thank goodness she packed the tank tops! And yet Taeyong kept his eyes everywhere but her chest. He was very respectful and yet she secretly wished he'd look at her.

"I want to show you something beautiful," he said suddenly, taking her unharmed hand in his.

AnAn's breath caught. She couldn't imagine anything more beautiful than Taeyong at this very moment.

"Come," he said, jumping off the bed in one swift motion. Even watching him do that, was arousing. He was so fit he could have done a backflip off the bed with no trouble at all. AnAn giggled at the thought, then suddenly remembered the music video for 'Baby Don't Stop,' and the way Taeyong had danced so seductively. Her skin immediately broke out in goosebumps.

"Are you ready?" He asked, grabbing his zip-up hoodie and a room key. 

AnAn shook her head and pulled herself together. She had to stop thinking about how sexy Taeyong was. 

She dragged her butt off the bed, a lot less glamorously than Taeyong had, in his effortless leap.

"Where are we going?" she asked.

Taeyong slipped on his shoes and gave her a wink in response.

AnAn shivered in delight. He HAD to stop doing that! His wink would kill her one day, she'd have a heart attack, it was just too much. She took a second to re-orient herself, then found her shoes. Taeyong held the door open for her and she headed out, but before she got through, he set his hand out, stopping her with a touch to her bare shoulder.

"You will need a shirt," he said.

AnAn was frozen for a moment, her skin tingling where he'd touched her. Taeyong went back to get a sweater for her and handed it over. She pulled it over her head and then they left together.

The Lodge was quiet this late at night and had a cozy feel to it, with the wooden stairs and rustic, log cabin-like decor.

They walked in silence, passing by the front lobby and the sitting area, then past the spa entrance. AnAn loved that they didn't need to talk. And it wasn't just because she couldn't speak his first language. He knew English quite well overall and they could have talked more. But he just didn't feel the need to do all that polite small talk, and AnAn admired that.

They headed down a flight of stairs which led to a narrow hallway, made entirely of wood. Windows ran along both sides of the enclosed pathway and the colourful lights of the Resort decorations outside twinkled amidst all the white snow.

"This is the... path, pathway, way, to the pool," Taeyong said.

"The pool?" AnAn suddenly realized that this must been the pool Taeyong meant when he'd messaged her that he was going swimming. It was the small hotel pool, reserved for guests only. 

At the end of the enclosed path was a small seating area, right before the door that led outside. Benches ran along the walls opposite each other; a place to stop and take off shoes or leave towels and other clothes.

Taeyong opened the door that led outside and AnAn walked through. Fat snowflakes danced in all directions, as though not knowing which way was down. AnAn's breath caught when she took in the view. A round hot pool sat at the center of a fenced off area, surrounded by pine trees decorated with Christmas lights. The lights also ran along the fence all the way around. The large windows of the restaurant above lit up the night, between the trees, and the nearby cabins on the opposite side of the Lodge were all decorated for Christmas, with a blow up Santa and reindeer and more lights. It was all so magical.

Taeyong used his key card to open the gates to the pool area and they went in. Lawn chairs sat all around the pool, covered in snow, like the pine trees surrounding them. A winter wonderland.

Taeyong tried to blink away the snowflakes landing on his eye lashes, and he shook his head to scatter the white fluff on his hair.

"Turn around," AnAn said to him. She didn't want to think about what she was about to do, or she would change her mind. Taeyong gave her a questioning look but before he could ask, she grabbed his shoulders and spun him around to face the other way. "Don't look," she said.

Her idea of being spontaneous usually involved trying a new drink at Starbucks that she hadn't tried before. But this was a different world, out here in the mountains. This was a magical place. Just the fact that she was here with Taeyong, was already an alternate reality that didn't make sense.

AnAn pulled down her fuzzy pajama bottoms and set them underneath a chair, where there wasn't any snow. Then she took her sweater off too, her teeth chattering. The snowy ground against on her bare feet was the worst cold and it gave her a brain freeze like drinking slurpees too fast.

She skipped to the pool as fast as she could and held back a yelp when her frozen toes plunged into the hot water. She didn't want Taeyong to guess what she was doing and turn around before she had the chance to get halfway into the water, so he wouldn't see her panties. Once she was in up to her waist she said, "you can turn around now."

Taeyong turned and looked out across the pool, then spun in a circle.

"AnAn?" He must not have expected for her to go into the water, because he looked as though he thought she'd disappeared.

"Over here," AnAn waved, and then he saw her.

He smiled and immediately shrugged off his hoodie, tossing it into the snow without a second glance. Then he lifted his t-shirt halfway up and stopped. Their eyes met and Taeyong lowered his arms.

"You should turn around now," Taeyong said, a playful smile on his face.

AnAn turned so fast she splashed hot water in her face. Her heart raced and the steam all around her wasn't helping with the heat rising up inside of her.

It took all of her willpower not to turn around and watch Taeyong remove his skinny jeans. When she heard the splash of water behind her, she turned and caught a glimpse of Taeyong's snug boxer briefs, a pastel blue and pink camouflage pattern which was anything but camouflaging.

AnAn's muscles seemed to stop working and she sank into the hot water. Never in her life had she had any interest in a guy's... lower half. But when it came to Taeyong, she was more than fascinated, by every part of him. Her heart raced uncontrollably.

He stopped when he got waist deep, standing there like an Asian Male Model in a steamy romance photo shoot.

AnAn stood up again, needing desperately to cool off. Taeyong watched her curiously, as though he wasn't sure what she would do next. She wasn't sure what she would do next! She had to take control of her hormones. Even though he'd tried to seduce her in the cutest way ever yesterday, it was only because he thought it was some business transaction, and he'd admitted to not being ready for that kind of stuff yet. She knew he was shy and she also wasn't sure yet what he wanted in their Arrangement, so she had to keep control of herself.

"I'm too hot," AnAn said, trying to get to the stairs that Taeyong was blocking.

"Yes," he grinned, looking up at the trees above. "I think so, too."

AnAn blinked. Was he flirting? Or did he just mean he also thought she must be too warm being fully immersed in the water?

She glanced down at her tank top and realized that it had become a lot more loose in the water, dragging down in the front so that the top of her bra was showing. Oops! She quickly tugged it back up.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight (Heat Part Two)

Taeyong turned his gaze down from the trees and back to AnAn.

"I'm too cold," he said, in response to her complaining she was too hot in the water.

Before AnAn could reply he suddenly pulled her against him and wrapped himself around her, then let out a sigh and whispered "ahhh, very warm." He spoke near her ear, sending goosebumps down her side. His hands felt cold but his chest was warm against hers, and his body firm, yet soft like silk. AnAn melted into him and they both lowered down into the water together. She was on fire. Her legs lifted, as though all on their own, and she wrapped them around his waist. He let out a small surprised breath and pulled back slightly.

"AnAn," he said, his voice thick with emotion. He ran his hands over her back then up to her shoulders. His fingers trembled slightly and his breathing was staggered. AnAn set her palms on his smooth chest and kept her legs wrapped around him. He looked down at her lips, then licked his own, as though in preparation to kiss her. 

AnAn slid her hands up around Taeyong's neck and pulled him closer.

"Sorry folks."

The abrupt interruption cut like a knife into the moment.

"Pool's closed for the night." 

The hotel security guard loomed in the near distance, at the bank of the steamy pool. "More bad weather coming. You'll have to get out."

Taeyong peeled AnAn off of him and she held back a disappointed whine.

"Yes, thank you, Sir," he said and quickly got out of the pool. He had his back to AnAn and she got a great view of his behind before he disappeared past the steam. She shut her eyes tight, storing the image of his fine figure into her brain for a rainy day.

"AnAn," Taeyong called to her. She quickly opened her eyes and ran up the steps, almost slipping and falling.

When she got out, Taeyong glanced down to her panties, then quickly up at the trees again. He held her clothes out to her and she took them. He was wearing his t-shirt now but didn't have his pants or hoodie on yet, and was holding them in front him instead, so she couldn't see his underwear.

He tilted his head towards the gates. "We should go."

"Yes, sorry," AnAn said quickly, realizing she'd been caught staring again. 

They ran into the enclosed walkway, which was heated thankfully, then stopped to put on their pants and shoes. They didn't look at each other get dressed. AnAn respected Taeyong's privacy, despite how much she loved to look at him, and despite wanting desperately to see if he was aroused in his briefs or not. It was such a foreign feeling to her, like she was being bad but didn't care, a desire she'd never had before. Seeing or even being aware of a guy's arousal had never interested her before.

As she pulled her sweater over her head a realization hit her. Was the real reason she hated the Arranged Marriages, Building Families and even dating all her life because she was afraid of guys and of intimacy? She'd always thought it was because of her parents' divorce. But now she realized she'd never wanted to be intimate with a guy before. Not until now. Guys scared her. And in some way she was afraid of Taeyong too, but not in the way she feared the hairy-chested hockey players. With Taeyong, she was afraid of losing all control. And she was terrified of how badly she desired him.

"Are you okay?" Taeyong said.

AnAn jumped in surprise and he looked apologetic.

"Yes," she said. "That was fun. Thanks for coming in the water with me."

"No problem." Taeyong nodded then smiled. "Let's go to bed," he said, then his eyes went wide. "Oh, no, not like that way." He looked away and blushed. 

AnAn's heart clenched. She wasn't sure how much more of his adorableness her heart could take. Was taeyong having a similar struggle, with his emotions? But he had made it clear that he didn't want to sleep with her, or at least that he wasn't ready to. And that was fine with AnAn. She wasn't ready either. At least she didn't think she was ready, well, not until she saw him in his boxer briefs. Her heart may not have been ready, but her body was.

"Let's get some more water bottles at the front desk, before we go back to the room," AnAn said, desperate to change the subject.

Taeyong nodded, still avoiding eye contact, and they headed down the hallway in a companionable silence.


	29. chapter Twenty-Nine

AnAn came out of the washroom in a soft, red striped t-shirt she'd gotten from the Gift Shop, and her fuzzy pajama bottoms. The bottoms were still a little wet from getting snow on them earlier, but she had nothing else to wear to bed. She'd towel dried her hair after her shower and was coming out to look for her hairbrush.

The sound of laughter and boys talking in Korean caught her attention. It was coming from Taeyong's phone. He was on his bed, stretched out and lying on his stomach, watching a video. He had his pajama bottoms on and a white t-shirt.

"What are you watching?" AnAn asked, curious.

Taeyong didn't turn to look at her but simply said, "V-live."

She didn't know what that was, but she could tell by the name of it that it was a live video feed of some sort.

"Who's in it."

"My friends."

Taeyong suddenly turned off the video and tossed his phone into the nearest lounge chair. It bounced off and landed on the carpet. He turned onto his side, facing away from AnAn and shut off the lamp by his bed.

AnAn stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do. Did Taeyong feel his friends had forgotten about him? Surely the live feed, or whatever they were required to do as Idols, was a publicity thing and they had to be happy in it, for the fans. But she didn't feel it was her place to comment on it.

AnAn climbed into her bed, pulling her moose stuffie close. Her lamp was still on and she could see Taeyong's shoulders. He was taking deep breaths but she didn't think he was asleep already.

"I'm sorry that you're far away from your friends," she said softly, squeezing the moose in preparation for his reaction. She'd never been good at this kind of stuff, knowing what to do when someone was hurting. She wanted him to know she did care about what he was going through, but she knew that trying to sympathize with him right now might just make him mad, because she didn't really know what he was going through.

Taeyong took a deep breath, then turned onto his back, keeping his eyes covered with his arm.

"I want to go home," he said. His jaw clenched and he swallowed hard.

AnAn blinked back tears. If there was anything she could do, anything, to help him get home, she would do it, even if that meant she wouldn't get to have him in her life anymore. She'd already lived her best life in the last hour that they'd spent at the pool, wanting any more than that would just be selfish of her.

"What can we do?" she asked softly.

Taeyong shook his head and his chin began to tremble.

"I'm sorry." Now she was crying too. "Can I come over there?"

Taeyong nodded and AnAn climbed out of her bed and into his. She gave him the stuffie and he took it, turning onto his side again and hugging it.

AnAn grabbed one of the pillows and lay down too. She didn't try to get too close, but simply set her hand on Taeyong's shoulder. He seemed to relax under her touch.

"When I'm sad," she said. "I make up secret handshakes."

Taeyong turned on his back again and took in a few staggered breaths before asking, "what is the secret handshake you make?"

"It's just something my mom and I do." AnAn sat up. "We make up a complicated handshake, like this." She held out her hand and Taeyong sat up too. He shook her hand and she drew her fingers along his palm, then fist pumped.

"Oh, I know how to do this too." Taeyong started doing a basic, secret handshake that AnAn had seen in a movie before.

"Okay, that's good!" she said. "But then we change it and add new stuff, like spinning around or tapping our feet together or something."

AnAn got off the bed and did a turn then gave Taeyong a low high-five. He leapt off the bed too and did a much better turn, then did another low high-five with her.

"Do it like this," he said, performing a complicated motion with his arms, then snapping his fingers and winking at the end.

AnAn giggled. "I seriously will never be able to do that."

"Easy." Taeyong did it again, but his motions went by so fast it might as well have been a honey bee dance, explaining rocket science instructions by its flight pattern. 

Taeyong grabbed AnAn's hands and held them up, then lifted her elbow. "Ninety degrees, angle, like this." Then he moved her other hand, going through the motions at a more slower pace. But the more he touched her, the more she giggled. She was overtired, which only meant one of two things, she would either get grumpy or giddy. And at the moment, she was definitely giddy, which made her extra ticklish too.

Taeyong tried to work with her but she kept laughing and squealing whenever he touched her.

"You would be a very bad K-Pop Idol," Taeyong said, taking a break. His comment only made AnAn laugh more.

"I'm sorry," she said between fits of laughter. "I will do my best, okay?" She gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up, along with an exaggerated wink.

Taeyong shook his head and tisked. "You are not serious."

"I'm serious! Come on. Let's do this!" AnAn held up her elbow at a ninety degree angle and Taeyong smiled. Then he sighed dramatically and pretended to be annoyed.

They started over and this time Taeyong made a simpler variation of the move he'd been trying to teach her, so AnAn could keep up. She was doing well, until he added some dance move that made him look really hot, but made her look super goofy. He tried not to laugh but kept laughing when she lost balance. She was just happy that he was smiling again. They incorporated a foot handshake part and AnAn fell over each time they attempted it, throwing Taeyong into a laughing fit.

Just as she was wishing she had her phone to record all of this, she heard it ringing. The Korean kids song was playing softly from somewhere.

"Shhhh." AnAn put her finger up to her lips. "Do you hear that?"

Taeyong held his breath for a second and then they both heard it.

"Over here!" AnAn attacked her bed, throwing pillows in the air and kicking off the blanket.

The song got louder and she turned around to see Taeyong pull it out from between the lounge chair cushions. He gave her a puzzled look.

"This is... your phone ringer?" he said.

Then they both burst out laughing until the ringer stopped and AnAn took it from Taeyong to check who'd been trying to call her. It was after 1AM now, after all.

Rose's name showed at the top of the call list. There were 14 missed calls, 6 from Taeyong and 8 from Rose. And Rose had missed messages too. 

AnAn opened the text from Rose. 

WATCH THIS! it read, and it had a link attached. AnAn clicked on it.

"... Lee Taeyong, was spotted at a Heritage Town in Canada." An image of Taeyong sitting on a fence in Fort Steele came up on the screen. AnAn gasped. "The photo was verified as legitimate and not a fabrication. However, the exact location of the Korean Pop Star is still unknown."

The shot cut to a reporter in front of the same fence that Taeyong had sat on. "Such an unlikely place for anyone to be at this time of year," the reporter said. "This was the sighting of the Idol presumed dead only a few weeks ago. But it is difficult to say if it was really him."

The shot went to a lady dressed in an 18th century dress and the caption underneath read 'Fort Steel Gift Shop Staff.'

"I was working in the gift shop," the older lady said. "At the canteen area so I didn't speak to the boy but he spent a lot of time browsing the merchandise, and he was with another young boy with wild looking, reddish hair sticking up." The lady motioned with her hands, making it seem as though AnAn's hair was some crazy Mohawk.

AnAn scoffed. "A boy!"

"They looked like they were on vacation." Another staff lady came on camera. She was the one that had helped Taeyong at the counter, when he'd paid for his purchases. "It was a young girl he was with, caucasian, dark brown hair I think. I didn't recognize him or anything. I don't know the pop culture now-a-days. I just thought he was another tourist."

The reporter returned to the screen. "The alleged Pop-Idol was reported to have bought some items from the gift shop, then having left with the other unidentified person he had come with. Police were not able to get a description of the car, which no one 'noticed' at the time, nor a licence plate number. They have have yet to figure out Taeyong Lee's whereabouts, but are investigating all sightings."

The video ended and the room went silent. Taeyong was standing beside AnAn and had watched the video too.

"They know you're in Canada," AnAn said softly. "They know you're in B.C."


	30. Chapter Thirty

Nothing but white could be seen outside the hotel room window. The snow was still falling heavily and AnAn got a sudden flashback of being snowed in at the NNN building.

"AnAn," Taeyong said, sounding concerned. "It's okay. We can't go outside to drive right now. We can stay here. No one is here to find me. Please don't worry."

"What if they are here? At this hotel somewhere? I only put my name at the front desk and I don't think anyone is looking for my name, I hope. Rose's cousin only told NNN about her suspicions. not these guys. So I don't think they'd be tracking me."

"Rose's cousin?"

"Good thing you didn't go to the big pool today. What if the paparazzi were there?"

Taeyong sat down on his bed with a sigh. He looked tired and AnAn felt bad.

"But you're right," she said, backtracking. She didn't want to make him worry. "It's after one in the morning and we're basically snowed in. Tonight we should just sleep. Especially if we'll be driving tomorrow." Or, more specifically, she'd be doing the driving tomorrow. Taeyong didn't have a Canadian driver's licence. 

The thought of being out on the open road calmed AnAn. There was a lot of snow piling up outside but the Lodge was big and they would have the ability to deal with it. There were two restaurants in the Lodge and there was the big sitting room at the front too, plus patios and multiple levels with rooms. There was no reason to feel enclosed.

AnAn climbed into her bed and pulled the covers up to her neck. The room was chilly, but now that she was laying down, she felt too exhausted to get up again and change the thermostat temperature.

Taeyong climbed around on his bed, a silhouette against the dim blue light coming from the windows behind him. He stood up onto his knees and pulled his t-shirt over his head, stretching to reveal his perfect form. AnAn sighed. What had she ever done to be blessed with such a glorious sight?

"My bed is by the windows," Taeyong said, climbing out of his bed. "AnAn?"

"Yes?" AnAn held her breath. He was coming over to her bed.

"I think it is too cold for me over there," he said softly. "By the windows."

"Oh." AnAn sat up, dizzy with tiredness and the sudden movement. "I'm sorry, Taeyong." She should have turned up the thermostat. But she would use his bed for the night since she was used to the cold and had slept in much colder.

Taeyong held the moose stuffie in his hands and he passed it over to her before she could get out of the bed. He climbed in and pulled the covers over both of them, pushing AnAn back down onto her pillow. Then he drew her against him with a gentle desperation that broke her heart. She wanted to cry just then, but didn't have the energy. Instead, she fell asleep in the warmth of his arms, surrounded by his heavenly scent, smooth skin and gentle breathing.


	31. Chapter Thirty-One (Heat Part Three)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little heated. I'd say PG-13. At your discretion. You can skip it if you want and still know what's happening in the story :)

The hotel room was quiet when AnAn woke. She was too warm, enveloped in heat.

Taeyong's arms surrounded her. His chest moved gently against her back as he breathed. She was trapped in his arms. Even his leg was draped over her, like she was a body pillow. She couldn't move and didn't want to.

She had a dream that they were on the run from the police and had made it all the way to Vancouver, but then the ferry which goes across to Victoria was out of order and they were trapped. She woke with the stress of her dream, which immediately evaporated when she realized she was in Taeyong's arms.

She'd never received this much physical affection in all her life, yet now she couldn't imagine living without it. She wanted to be fused together with Taeyong forever.

He stirred and began to wake. Cool air rushed over AnAn's skin, as he separated himself from her. His pulling away made her die a little inside. He wasn't really hers. She'd ignored this truth from the moment the lady at the front desk of the provincial building told her their Arrangement wasn't in the city records. That meant they weren't considered married by the province.

"The snow is stopped now," Taeyong said, his voice rough with sleep. The sexy sound stirred AnAn's insides with a nervous energy. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten, but she was never hungry anymore, the nervous fluttering inside of her 24/7, kept her from feeling anything else, even hunger. She'd probably lose a lot of weight, like a drug addict. Taeyong was her drug. She couldn't deny anymore that she was unhealthily addicted to him.

"Do you think they'll clear the roads?" AnAn asked, not even paying attention to her own words. She was spellbound by Taeyong's messy morning hair and groggy eyes. His lips were lush and his cheeks flushed from the heat of them being merged together while sleeping. He gave her a lazy smile, his eyes glazed over like he was soaking in a moment of bliss. AnAn swallowed hard. No, he was just waking up, that's all. She really had to control her crazy imagination.

Taeyong sat up and the blanket slid down to his waist, catching on his pajama bottoms.

AnAn looked down and her heart raced. Was it just her imagination or was he...

When Taeyong noticed where she was looking he quickly tucked the blanket closer against him. "It's just..." he blushed a deep red. "It's just this way this is, in the mornings," he said, "for boys." Then took off to the washroom.

AnAn couldn't move a muscle from the spot she was lying in. She should probably get up and pack, and find out if the roads were cleared yet or if they were going to be cleared today. What time was it anyway? They had to leave this place. The reporters were too close to finding out their location. They were already on Taeyong's trail. But AnAn's body refused to listen. She couldn't seem to get moving, all she could think about was how sexy Taeyong looked in the morning.

She was still in the same position when he returned from the washroom, now wearing skinny jeans and a form-fitting light blue sweater.

AnAn closed her eyes. She couldn't look at his perfect figure right now. She couldn't look at him at all right now. She expected him to ask her what was wrong, why she wasn't getting up, but he didn't say anything.

The bed moved as he got into it beside her. She opened her eyes and set her hand on his chest. He was on his back and had pulled the blanket up to his waist. One hand was tucked under his head and the other settled onto the back of AnAn's hand on his chest. He looked up at the ceiling, as though thinking, then closed his eyes.

They lay like that for a while, in silence. AnAn couldn't tell him what she was feeling. She was embarrassed to admit all the thoughts running wild in her head. Teayong squeezed her hand and she felt his heart beating harder now. He still had his eyes closed as he gently moved her hand down, beneath the blanket. Her fingers hit the waistline of his jeans and he stopped. His eyes opened slightly and he glanced down at her with a sleepy expression. He began to run circles with his fingers, gently over the back of her hand, sending tingles up her arm and through her entire body.

AnAn's heart raced uncontrollably. Was he asking her to move her hand down further? Was he leaving it up to her? She closed her eyes and slowly moved her hand down a bit further. Then she stopped, unsure if she should continue.

Tears rushed to AnAn's eyes but she didn't know why she was crying. It was everything, the immense desire to be with Taeyong, and the fear making her hesitate because this was the first time she'd ever been close to a guy like this. She blinked and looked up at Taeyong. His eyes were closed now, his expression serious. He let out a staggered breath. Was he sad too? Why?

"I'm sorry, AnAn," he whispered, swallowing hard.

She slipped her hand down further and her fingers hit the soft material of his boxer briefs, where his body had gone taunt. Taeyong suddenly grabbed her wrist and looked down at her with a questioning look.

"I can't be together with you," he said. "Our Arrangement, is not a real Arrangement." His voice was thick with emotion, tugging at AnAn's heart.

"I know." She said. Had she always known? Of course he could never truly be hers. No one could be good enough for Taeyong. "But I still want to be with you."

His brow furrowed. "You are sure?"

She wasn't sure of anything.

He let go of her wrist and lifted his arm, running his fingers through his hair and tilting his head back.

AnAn climbed onto him and kissed his neck. He moaned, grabbing her hips and digging his fingers into her sides. He pushed her down against him and her breath caught. Suddenly he flipped her onto her back, so abruptly that she bounced on the bed. He pushed his lips against hers and she let out a whimper of surprise. 

Her lips separated with a sigh and he deepened the kiss. Her back arched in response, pushing up against him. 

There was a knock at the door and Taeyong pulled away from her.

"Housekeeping," a lady's voice called out from the other side of the door. Taeyong's excitement was noticeable in his jeans and AnAn scrambled off the bed. "You stay here, I'll get it," she said.


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I see by my hits that I have one official reader reading every chapter ^_^ Thank you for reading! :D   
I'm usually a Wattpad person, but I'm trying out A03 again, but it's such a quiet and lonely place for me as a writer right now, with this story. I will keep going with this novel on A03 for now, because I know I've got one reader haha Otherwise I might not have bothered to continue lol Thanks my one reader!

AnAn gripped the steering wheel tight in frustration. The car was officially stuck. Even with the cleared roads, her tiny little tires slid into a snowbank while trying to make a turn and going down the mountain.

"Do I push the car?" Taeyong asked. He wore a grey toque and his dark hair escaped from beneath it, hanging into his eyes and making him look adorable. The fluttering in AnAn's stomach started up again. Just when she'd thought it had finally settled down. 

After their unexpected heated session that morning, a peace had settled over AnAn, as though her body was finally satisfied that they'd gotten close and the nerves had calmed down. She was too scared to go to the restaurant for breakfast, worried that Taeyong would be spotted by some reporter or paparazzi, so they ordered room service. Her stomach butterflies had even settled enough for her to be able to eat all her eggs benedict. 

But now, seeing Taeyong all bundled up in his winter jacket and toque, her nervousness came back in full swing. She could still feel how he felt when he'd climbed on top of her, and the warmth of his lips...

"AnAn?" he said, studying her. "What do you say we should do?"

AnAn rubbed her eyes. "Yes, you'll need to push the car, but first my tire needs some traction."

Taeyong nodded and she opened her door. Cold air came flooding in, waking her from her hormonal reverie. She got out of the car and stretched. They'd only been driving a couple of minutes down the mountain, but it felt good to be on the road nevertheless. The highway would have less snow than here on these mountain paths. Then they could make some distance faster. 

The glimmer of sunlight off the snow blinded AnAn with white. The snow had finally stopped falling, but everything was still covered in a blanket of white. No one else was on the road and the forest on either side sat silent. The sound of the car door opening and closing broke into the stillness. Taeyong walked around the front to join AnAn. His boots crunched in the snow with a satisfying sound.

"This is beautiful," he said, letting out a foggy breath. He looked like a male model in a ski commercial, with his perfect skin and intense eyes.

The sound of another vehicle down the road startled AnAn.

"Get back in the car!" she said suddenly.

Taeyong gave her a questioning look, but she simply opened the back door of her car and shoved him in, then climbed in after him. "Duck down," she said, pushing him onto his back. She closed the car door and lay on top of Taeyong, covering him until she could be sure the car had passed.

"I don't want anyone to see you," she whispered. "Just in case."

He reached up and set his hand on the small of her back. AnAn lay her head on his chest and closed her eyes. Even his jacket smelled nice. It was one of her many favourite things about him. He always smelled heavenly.

"What should we do?" she said, wanting to just fall asleep exactly where she was.

"Wait for this car to go away?" Taeyong answered.

"No, I mean, what should we do about our lives? Should we go back to Lowbridge, or keep driving forever?"

Taeyong sighed. "We will go back to Lowbridge."

Just then, the approaching sound of the car on the road came to a stop. It wasn't until she heard a car door slam, that AnAn realized someone had stopped on the road.

She scurried backwards out of the car, crawling over Taeyong. He started to sit up but she pushed him back down.

"Stay here," she said, then added, "please," before getting out and shutting the door.

She came face to face with a blonde lady in an expensive looking trench coat.

"Oh," AnAn said in surprise, clutching her heart. "I didn't see you there."

The lady smiled. She assessed AnAn with a curious glance.

"Are you alright?" the lady said. "You car looks like it slid in the ditch."

AnAn looked over the woman's shoulder and saw a car with the CTV News emblem on the side. This lady was a reporter.

"Uh," she shoved her hands into her pockets so the woman wouldn't see them shake. "No, I just stopped to look for my cell phone, which fell under the seat."

The reporter lady looked over AnAn's shoulder at her car. AnAn resisted the urge to jump in front of the windows and try to hide Taeyong. But she couldn't make herself seem suspicious, so she didn't move and crossed her fingers in her jacket pockets.

"Well, if you're sure you don't need any help-"

"Yep. I'm fine."

"Oh," the reporter pulled out a small notebook from her pocket. "We're looking for a missing person." She took out a photo from her other pocket. It was a picture of Taeyong with blonde hair. "His hair is black now, according to our sources."

AnAn furrowed her brows. "I've seen guys that look like him in the city," AnAn lied. "You should go look there."

The reporter lady took the photograph back. "There have been reported sightings of him in the area."

"Did he do something wrong?"

"No, nothing like that."

AnAn waited for the reporter to continue. She wanted to know more of what was going on, although there was a good chance the reporter knew little more than AnAn did. When there was no response AnAn said, "If he's done nothing wrong, then why are you guys searching for him? Maybe he just wants to be left alone."

The preported watched AnAn curiously.

"I mean," AnAn backtracked, "my mom's business was shut down because of people like you. Because of a false claim by a reporter. I just think they interfere in people's lives where they shouldn't."

"Thank you for your time," the reporter lady said. "Good luck with finding your cell phone." With that she got back into her car. There was another person in her car. He looked young, likely the cameraman or another reporter.

AnAn got back into her car and shut the door. When she looked into the rear view mirror, she didn't see Taeyong lying down in the back seat. She turned quickly and looked at the foot area behind her. He was lying there, squished in the small space where the feet go, huddled in his bulky coat.

Their eyes met and she smiled, even though her chest was tight with worry. That had been so close. The CTV News vehicle was driving up the mountain now, towards the hot springs. She should have asked if they were looking for anyone else, other than Taeyong, that he may be with. Did they have any photos or a description of her, from the interview at Fort Steele? But her hair was covered with a winter toque at the moment and not sticking up in an unruly manner, as she was described by the Fort Steele staff. Surely the reporter lady didn't suspect her. She thought back to the news report. No, there had been no photos of her or any kind of police sketch. The idea made her nervous.

Once the sound of the News vehicle could no longer be heard, AnAn relaxed back into her seat. "You can come out now," she said to Taeyong.

He wrestled his way out of the tight spot he'd put himself in, then sat up between the seats and leaned forward to talk to AnAn.

"They are going to the hot springs, now" he said. "We left at a good time."

AnAn nodded. "Maybe they'll continue to chase a false trail... " She suddenly had a thought. "I know what we could do!"


	33. Chapter Thirty-Three

Taeyong posed for the camera in front of the Radium Hot Springs sign. This second hot springs location was only a half hour drive from the Fairmont Hot Springs, but it was more popular with tourists, being directly on the highway coming from the city.

"No," AnAn said to Taeyong, giggling. "You have to pretend you don't know someone is taking a photo of you, like I'm the paparazzi."

Taeyong give her a lopsided grin which was so cute AnAn almost dropped her phone.

"Come on," she complained, yet still smiled. "Pretend you're walking in that direction."

She pointed down the road. She wanted to get a profile shot of him, so the camera could still capture enough of his face that he would be recognizable, but not straight on. She didn't want the photo to look too contrived.

Taeyong wasn't wearing his hat or jacket and they would get rid of the sweater he had on, as soon as they could, so he wouldn't be seen wearing it ever again. They also needed to change his hair colour once more, maybe highlights this time, as long as it wasn't straight black, which was what the reporters were currently keeping an eye out for. And he suggested they cut it shorter, to give him a different look. 

Hopefully the hair change and different clothes would help keep him blended in once they were back in Lowbridge. There, it would be easier to keep a low profile. Taeyong wanted to get a job with a building crew working on projects throughout town, like the new wing at the local elementary school, and the construction crew wouldn't recognize him. It was the perfect work place to hide in. The reporters won't know to look there, and AnAn's "husband" wouldn't be suspiciously hiding away at the house all the time, but working all day. The construction work would be a great cover and Taeyong seemed excited about the idea. It was something he'd always wanted to do, outside of being a pop star or a fireman.

AnAn snapped a few photos of him now, trying to make them look zoomed in from far away and a little blurry, but not so blurry as to make it hard to see who was in the shot. After this, they were heading back the way they came, and would send in the photo as an anonymous tip once they were long gone, showing Taeyong at Radium, which was in the opposite direction of where they were going. 

From here, the road headed either East for the big City, or West for Vancouver. If the reporters tried to follow either trail they'd be preoccupied for a long time and never find them, because they were heading back to the Hot Springs, then continuing South to Lowbridge. 

"All done with this photo?" Taeyong asked, rubbing his hands together to warm them. His breath puffed out into the cold air as he talked.

"Yes!" AnAn rushed over and handed him his jacket. "Sorry, I was thinking whether or not we should stop for food, or just keep going."

"Maybe we will just go quickly, to Lowbridge," Taeyong said. "The reporters can check the photo time, on the digital information, so then we must be far away when they think we are here."

"Oh." AnAn checked the photo properties. Could she change the time and date connected to the photo before sending it? She'd research the details online later on her phone, once they were in better range. 

They hurried back to the car, then pulled out onto the road again. AnAn drove back in the direction of the Fairmont Hot Springs, towards the highway which would lead them back home.

The roads were slippery, but there were hardly any cars out, today being a weekday. AnAn stopped at a convenience store for snacks, leaving Taeyong ducked down in the car while she went in. After that one stop they decided to drive straight to Lowbridge, without any stops in between.

"Taeyong?" AnAn turned down the music after they'd driven a little while. "Will you tell me what happened? Why you're here and not in your band anymore?"

He adjusted his seat belt and kept his gaze ahead on the road.

"There will be another war," he said, quite unexpectedly.

AnAn gripped the wheel tight. Another war? They couldn't afford another war. America was almost extinct after the last war!

"How do you know?"

"It is because of this, because I know this, that I must hide. The Korean government is planning attacks for when they are ready. They will use K-pop concerts. They will..."

Taeyong turned away and stopped talking. AnAn didn't ask any more questions. She wouldn't push him for more information. He would tell her more when he was ready. She now had a better idea now of what he was up against, and it was terrifying.

"If you know more about this, then you will be in danger too," Taeyong said, not facing her. The reporter in her wanted to know more, but the anxious part of her was already worried she knew too much.

They drove in silence for a long time and Taeyong fell asleep. AnAn felt herself nodding off too, but she made it all the way to Fort Town, before pulling over for a quick rest.

It was dark outside when they continued the last stretch of the drive. Taeyong seemed subdued and didn't talk at all. AnAn drove straight to their new house and parked in the garage.

The final bang of the garage door closing all the way, gave AnAn a sense of relief. They were back home, safe and sound. She was so tired she felt wobbly on her feet, but she wanted to get their stuff inside, along with the new clothes they'd bought, and then she would lay down. Taeyong helped her carry everything in. He seemed tired too, even though he'd napped in the car.

The house smelled new when they stepped inside, through the back door leading in from the garage. Seeing the inside of the house made AnAn happy with the memories they'd created here. She smiled, remembering Taeyong carrying her in through the front door on their wedding night. It seemed like years ago now, and yet it wasn't that long ago. Now they'd had their honeymoon, albeit a short one, and the thought left AnAn feeling more blessed than could have ever hoped for.

She didn't bother putting any of their stuff away, but simply left it all in the living room and went upstairs to lie down, apologizing to Taeyong that she had no energy left. He felt the same way but he said he couldn't go to bed until he put his things away neatly first. AnAn left him to it.

Her new room was neat and tidy and already felt like home. She never noticed how cluttered her old room was, until she saw this room. The uncluttered space here was refreshing. 

AnAn lay down onto her blankets with her clothes still on, just wanting to rest a moment until she regained enough energy to change into pajamas and brush her teeth.

Tomorrow's priority would be buying hair dye products and going in to see a barber. Taeyong could get a plain sort of haircut, something that didn't look stylish and cool, although he always would look amazing no matter what. AnAn wanted him to be safe and would do anything to ensure that he was. With that thought, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.


	34. Chapter Thirty-Four

"You're pretty chipper this morning," Jerry said, walking into AnAn's old room. 

She jumped in surprise and wobbled on the chair she was standing on. Jerry reached up and steadied her, his hands grabbing her waist. AnAn pushed his hands away.

"What do you mean I'm chipper?" She returned to her task. She was removing the photos of all the K-Drama actors clipped up all over her room, and taking down the faerie lights too. She couldn't decide if she should save the photos or not. But what would she do with them now? Setting up her new room in the same way as this old one, seemed silly. She wasn't a single girl anymore, a girl with no social life who watched K-Dramas all day.

"I heard you singing," Jerry said. "Are you that happy to leave me?"

AnAn laughed and looked over her shoulder at him. Jerry was shifting from one foot to the other. Why was he in her room? He never entered a room unless he had a reason to be there, and then he left right away. Right now he just seemed to be dawdling. The Jerry she knew, would have thrown himself onto her bed by now, right on top of all the clothes she'd laid out neatly, simply because he didn't like to stand for more than two minutes. But at the moment, he was standing awkwardly in the middle of her room, with his hands in his pockets. Also something that was unlike him.

AnAn climbed down from her chair. "What's up?" she said, curious now. Why was Jerry acting weird?  
"I just came to say hi," Jerry said, looking around her room and everywhere else but her. "It's been quiet around here without you."  
AnAn was puzzled. Where was... what's her name? Jerry's new girl?  
"So you're really moving out, eh?" he said.  
AnAn assessed Jerry. "What's wrong with you? Spit it out."  
Jerry ran a hand through his hair. "What do you mean? Can't I say hi to my favourite friend?"  
AnAn narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you want?"  
"Why do you think I want something? Okay fine." Jerry scratched the top of his head. "I can't afford rent here, once you leave."  
AnAn furrowed her brows. "What about, you know, your fiance?"

Jerry gave her a sideways glance and didn't answer.  
"What happened?" AnAn asked, crossing her arms.  
"Well, we had a bit of a..." Jerry shrugged. "You know, disagreement."  
"Jerry," AnAn sighed. "You've picked your Match and now you can't change that. This is your last week before the Ceremony, right?"  
Jerry nodded.  
"You have to go through with the Match you picked, they don't let you revoke your choice that easily. You need a really good reason to challenge the Arrangement and it can't be just because you've changed your mind. Trust me, I know."  
"You tried to challenge your Arrangement too?"  
He didn't know? She hadn't told him?  
"Well, it's easier for the girl to challenge it. But there's not much you can do at this point."  
"What if..." Jerry stopped.  
"What if, what?"  
"Never mind." Jerry turned to leave but AnAn grabbed his arm, realizing she wasn't being very compassionate.  
"Sorry. I don't know why I'm being so grumpy. I haven't even heard what happened with your disagreement. So you don't think you two can just work it out?"

Jerry looked down at her hand grasping his arm and she quickly let go. He'd always seemed relatively small for his age, not tall or muscular, but now that AnAn was used to Taeyong, Jerry seemed bulky and bigger in comparison.  
"You're right," he said, his shoulders slumping. "I made my choice. I'm sorry. I should have kept our our promise, to marry each other."  
"Well." AnAn took a step back. "It's too late now, so..."  
"Not really," Jerry stepped towards her and AnAn stepped back. He was never usually nervous, but right now he was fidgeting with his cell phone incessantly. AnAn took the phone from him and set it on the dresser.  
"You just have cold feet. This is why I never liked Building Families setting the Arrangement age at 17. Who's ready to pick a life partner at 17?"

Jerry nodded in agreement. He was wearing a black shirt with a silly saying on the front and his hair was all messy. AnAn's heart clenched, seeing him all worried like this, something that was so uncommon for him. He was always a fun and enthusiastic guy. He never worried about anything, but now he seemed very worried.  
He swallowed hard and blinked fast. "I just feel like, you abandoned me-"  
"Me?" AnAn said a little too loudly. "Yes, I'm Arranged now, but that's because you didn't marry me by the time I turned 17, remember? You found this..." Why couldn't she remember peoples' names? "This... girl who you fell madly in love with."  
"I fell in love with her," Jerry said. His eyes were turning red now and AnAn's breath caught. She'd never once in six years seen Jerry cry. "But apparently she didn't fall in love with me."  
"What?" AnAn said softly. "Did she say that? Does she want to try and challenge the Arrangement?"  
"AnAn, you've been my best friend for forever-"  
"Terrance is your best friend."  
"I'm friends with Terrance through you. We hardly hang out when you're not around. You're the one I watch Netflix with and have supper with every night when you get home from work... At least, you used to be." Jerry reached for her but then seemed to think better of it. "I shouldn't have let you go."

AnAn didn't know what to say. They'd always worked so well together, even as roommates, they did the chores and cleaning with a kind of unspoken understanding that didn't need planning or nagging. They just clicked. But marriage was a whole other thing and AnAn had never really thought it through properly when they'd made that promise before.

"I miss you," Jerry said softly. He looked sad and AnAn hated seeing him this way.  
She didn't know how to respond. She needed time to think about everything he'd said. This was all so unexpected. Jerry never said things like this in their whole lives. She was the one who'd been heartbroken when he'd broken their agreement, she was the one who had invested her hope into him, only to discover that he'd found someone else at the last moment. But they'd always just been friends. Liking him as more than a friend wasn't something she'd ever allowed herself to entertain in the past, because it would ruin their friendship. And she had Taeyong now, so to hear Jerry say this all now was so confusing.

"Never mind," Jerry finally said when she stood there saying nothing, then he walked out.


	35. Chapter Thirty-Five

"Thanks for helping with all this," AnAn said to Rose, who was over helping with the packing. She was going to take AnAn's stuff to her garage for a big garage sale in the summer. AnAn was getting rid of most of it. Even her clothes. A lot of them were styles she'd grown out of. 

They'd packed almost everything into the boxes. The more they put away and cleared the room, the more it looked the way it had when AnAn had first moved in here with Jerry, at 16. The nostalgia hit her hard. She'd forgotten how they'd danced to Gangnam Style in the kitchen because it had seemed so big and open to them at the time, before they even had a table for it. They'd been celebrating their new found freedom. AnAn was finally free of her mom's depression at the time and Jerry was free from living under his father's 'roof.' His dad had a lot of rules, which he said Jerry had to obey as long as he was living under 'his roof.'

Jerry had painted the words 'my roof' on his bedroom ceiling the very night they'd moved in. AnAn had helped. By the time they were done, they were covered in green paint. It got in their hair and on their face and all over their clothes, from trying to paint upwards with cheap paint brushes. It was green paint because that was the cheapest discount paint they could find at the hardware store. They were broke and had used all of their savings for the deposit and first and last month's rent.

"What about this?" Rose asked, bringing AnAn's attention back to the moment. She lifted AnAn's unicorn Stuffie.

AnAn snatched it from her hands. Jerry had bought it for her in the city when they'd visited the carnival and she'd lost all her money trying to win a much cheaper unicorn stuffed toy. She was so frustrated she'd cried, mostly for losing all her money for nothing. So Jerry took her to a toy store and bought her the biggest and fluffiest unicorn stuffie he could find.

AnAn hugged it tight to her chest. "Taeyong and my Arrangement..." she started to say to Rose, then took a deep breath before continuing. She was about to cry and there was no stopping it. "Our Arrangement is... not legitimate."

"What?" Rose asked, looking concerned. "But you had your Ceremony."  
"Yeah and no one I know was even there, or anyone who could say they witnessed it."  
"But-"  
"It was all set up. There's no record of it at the Government Building."  
"That isn't the point anyway." Rose took AnAn's hands in hers. "You both said the vows, right?"  
AnAn nodded.  
"Then that's all that matters. As long as you're both in agreement."

AnAn blinked back tears. She couldn't say the words that were trying to come out. She couldn't tell Rose that Taeyong had said he wasn't really married to her, that he wasn't in agreement with it and didn't want to be serious for the long term. She didn't want those words to be said out loud.

"If it's not in the records," Rose continued, in a reassuring tone. "You can get married to Taeyong legitimately at the Government Building anyway. When you're already Matched and something happens, like the other person runs away or dies, they let you rearrange your Ceremony. You could go in again and-"

Just then, the front door opened and voices filled the small kitchen just down the small hallway from AnAn's room. Taeyong and Terrance had entered the front door, laughing and talking. They were returning from Taeyong getting his hair cut and a trip to see the lead foreman of the local construction company about a possible work trial for Taeyong on site. Terrance sounded very amused by something Taeyong was saying as they came in.

"Please don't say anything about what we talked about to anyone," AnAn whispered to Rose.

Rose nodded, then they went out to greet the boys.


	36. Chapter Thirty-Six

AnAn felt like a different person walking into the NNN offices later that afternoon. She felt older, coming home from a honeymoon and currently in the middle of moving her things into her new house. After spending a night trapped in this building, and taking over Janet's office to work all night on an article, the second floor of the NNN building felt more like home, than some intimidating place where city reporters lurked.

Now, seeing everyone walking around; in the couch area, at the water cooler, down the hallway near her office, no not her office but Janet's office, it felt like they were invading her personal space. But it didn't belong to her, the office and the reporter job. She'd be back downstairs at her cubicle by the end of the week.

The city reporters bustled around in their fashionable office clothes. They were all at the office today, which was odd. AnAn walked by the boardroom and noticed a spread of bunch food, not just the usual donuts and coffee, but actual sandwiches and dessert trays. Were they having some big annual meeting?

The reporters nodded to her in the halls and said 'hey' as she walked by. She wasn't used to getting attention from them. Why were they acknowledging her now? She hadn't even come in to do work, but simply to clear out her things from Janet's office, before Janet got back. AnAn was still technically on her honeymoon, but she'd left Janet's office in such disarray before leaving, with papers strewn everywhere, she wanted to come and clean it up.

She quickly ducked into the office, not used to all the attention and feeling self-conscious about it. Walking in, she found Janet's office completely clean, not a paper out of place. Where was all the mess she'd left behind?

"AnAn?" Ophelia poked her head into the office. She was Thomas' assistant, but was often sent to help with the other reporters, doing various paperwork and photocopying. "I hope you don't mind," she continued. "But I cleaned up a bit and put all your papers here."

She hurried into the room and picked up three file folders, which had been neatly placed on top of the file cabinet. "I arranged them into themes, History of K-pop, Taeyong's Disappearance and his Personal Life and Info."

"Oh, you didn't have to do that," AnAn said. "I'm done with all that now."  
Ophelia nodded, her eyes alert and all her attention on AnAn, as though awaiting further instructions.  
"Um," AnAn patted down her hair. What was going on today? Why was everyone acting weird? She'd only planned to stop in for a few minutes, while the boys unloaded her stuff at Rose's place, and she definitely hadn't expected to find every single person employed by NNN to be here today. She wasn't dressed for the office, but was wearing black tights and a long, cowl neck sweater, one of the clothes that Taeyong had purchased for her at the Hot Springs.

Ophelia was still waiting for AnAn to reply.  
"Um, I'll just recycle that. I don't need to keep those papers. The information is all online. I was just organizing my thoughts and highlighting stuff."  
"Sure. I can recycle them. Do you want them shredded?"  
"No... actually, on second thought, yes. Let's shred them."  
"No problem, I'll do that. Do you need anything else?"  
"Um... no."

Why was Ophelia acting like AnAn was one of the city reporters now? She'd never said two words to her before.  
"Oh, can you tell me what everyone's doing here today?" AnAn asked.  
Ophelia leaned closer and whispered. "Big meeting. There's a very top secret news story we're hoping to have an exclusive on."  
"What's the news story?" AnAn asked, her heart racing. Could it have something to do with the war that Taeyong was talking about?  
"I don't know," Ophelia said. "But everyone's saying that Thomas wants to put together an investigative reporter team to cover this story, and that he's going to ask you to be on it."  
AnAn's eyes went wide. "What?"  
"Like real reporter stuff. Camera men and everything. He had me searching flights to Korea for four people."

Just then, Thomas came barreling in. "Oh, good, you're here," he boomed, walking toward AnAn, as though he'd asked her to come in today and she'd finally shown up.  
"I'm just stopping in-" AnAn started but Thomas wasn't listening.  
"Here's the overview of what we'll be discussing at the meeting today. It starts in 15 minutes." He handed her a file folder and then was gone.  
"But-" AnAn sighed. She'd have to call Taeyong and Rose, and tell them not to pick her up after they were done unloading the stuff. She was having lunch at the office today.


	37. Chapter Thirty-Seven

"For those of you who weren't here earlier this week," Thomas said, nodding to AnAn before continuing. "Jo-anne has an exclusive on the 'K-Pop Idol Spies Among Us,' story, which we discussed at yesterday's meeting. We've got a big week ahead of us, folks, so look alive. Today I'll be divvying up the investigative reporting teams, starting with our big story."

AnAn looked across the table at all the reporters who were gathered there. She'd always found them intimidating, but today she saw them differently, as just employees like her, doing a job that was competitive and challenging, and fun too. Tensions were high at the moment and there was plenty of fidgeting and nail biting around the table. No one had touched their food yet and everyone seemed to be waiting for this announcement.

"This is the calm before the storm," Thomas continued. "Just because I'm assigning specific reporters to the main story, doesn't mean the rest of you shouldn't all have your noses to the grindstone, ready to report any and everything that could give us a lead. Now..." Thomas cleared his throat. "Jo-anne, you'll be one of the investigative reporters going to Korea. I know it's always a risk, as a reporter, to go to another country and ask a bunch of questions. You can never be sure how you will be received. But I'm confident you can do it. Since you've procured the most concrete evidence for our main story, I want you on the team."

Jo-anne nodded, keeping a well-composed demeanor, yet AnAn saw the satisfied grin she hid behind her coffee mug.

"James," Thomas barked. The thirty-something year old man in a dress shirt jumped, almost spilling his coffee on his shirt. He wore glasses and looked like a middle-school teacher. His notes were all neatly set on the table before him. "You'll be joining Jo-anne," Thomas said. "You're great at keeping a low profile and getting locals to respect you. You've got that... look about you."

"Thank... you?" James replied, adjusting his tie.

"I liked your work on the Remembrance Day piece you did this month, tying in the current World War Three to the past ones. You've got a good grasp on the history. Use that to help in your investigative reporting."

James nodded and sat up straighter.

"And the next two who will be on this team..." Thomas flipped through some papers, as though he'd forgotten who he had chosen for the assignment and needed to find the answer in his notes.

AnAn gripped the arm rests of her chair. She didn't want it to be her, even though she knew it would be. She didn't want to leave Taeyong behind, even for just a week. Everyone else was at the edge of their seats as well, waiting for Thomas to say who would be going to Korea on this special investigative report mission.

"AnAn and Colin, will be the second team."

The room erupted with complaints, mostly about Colin's qualifications, surprisingly, rather than AnAn's. Her heart raced, but she didn't say anything. This was her big chance. She could give her spot to one of these eager reporters and just return to being a small columnist. But it was also her chance to move up in her career, big time!

"I've made my decision," Thomas boomed. "Now, let's get back to the meeting. I'm not going to change my mind and there are a lot of other stories to assign today."

The rest of the meeting didn't have to do with AnAn's assignment so she excused herself, grabbing two sandwiches and some dessert on her way out.

"Wait up," someone called after her. AnAn turned to see Colin following her out of the boardroom. He was wearing a black leather jacket and his dark curls were styled to the side. He was from the city and had that cosmopolitan look about him. "I don't think we've been properly introduced," he said with a slight accent. AnAn guessed it was Spanish or some other romantic language. He offered his hand in a handshake.

AnAn's hands were full and she simply shrugged.

"Oh," Colin said. "I can help you carry something."

"It's okay." AnAn tried to keep walking, wanting to avoid him. She hadn't officially said yes to the investigative reporter position so she didn't want to get in too deep with her new partner. First she wanted to talk to Taeyong about it, and maybe Rose, too.

"I was thinking we could start on our game plan," Colin said, following after her. "You know, what places we will visit, who we will interview, what hotel we will stay at in Korea."

AnAn stopped. "Hotel?"

"Yeah." Colin gave her a puzzled look. "Haven't you done an on location report like this before?"

"No," AnAn said. She looked at Colin then. "I have another meeting I have to get to right now." She frowned, remembering how she'd missed lunch with Taeyong.

"Okay," Colin said. "No problem. Here's my number." He patted the pockets of his black leather jacket until he found a notepad and pen.

"Thanks," AnAn said, grasping the note with her one free pinkie. "I'll be in touch."

She hurried away and didn't even bother to grab her jacket.

Downstairs, the staff seemed to be ignoring her. Were they mad she'd left them behind and gone upstairs to join the big wigs? She came down to ask someone for a ride, since Rose and the guys had dropped her off and she didn't have her car, but now decided against it.

She checked her phone and found that Rose had sent some pictures; boxes of her stuff that had been delivered to her new place, and Taeyong making a silly face. There was a photo of her unicorn stuffie now seated alongside her moose stuffie, on her new bed.

-Taeyong's tired and going to have a nap, Rose's message read. We are heading back home now. Hope everything went okay at work.

AnAn didn't want to bother Rose for a ride, so she sent Jerry a text.

-Hey Jerry have you had lunch yet?

The reply came right away.

-No I'm starving

-If you give me a ride I'll give you a sandwich and dessert.

-Where are you?

-Work

-Be there in 5

AnAn sighed and went to the front door to wait for Jerry.


End file.
